


Denial

by DarkHououmon



Series: The Chalk Queen's Reign [1]
Category: ChalkZone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-03-14 13:04:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 36
Words: 211,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13590630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkHououmon/pseuds/DarkHououmon
Summary: "How long are you going to do this, Penny? How long are you going to run and hide from your mistakes?"





	1. Prologue

It had all happened so fast.

How had things led up to this point? In his racing head, Rudy could barely remember. It was something about Penny needing help with her project, then Skrawl attacked the Chalk Mine and he and Snap went to investigate...

And now this.

Rudy tried his best to keep standing. He had tried to make sense of what had happened. The anger and rage that he felt had already dissipated, draining out in favor of a new emotion. And that emotion was fear. He could feel it clawing its way to the top as the world around him slowed to a crawl, along with his own body. Rudy could see what was happening and he could feel his body shaking in response.

In front of him, he could see Penny. He could hardly believe it. He didn’t want to believe it. But he knew that she was there, that this was her. He knew that this was no hallucination. That didn’t stop him from still wishing that were the case.

Penny had joined up with Skrawl. That thought made him feel bitter inside, but also terrified. He couldn’t understand why she would do such a thing. Surely some stupid report didn’t mean that much to her.....did it?

Perhaps it did, given what she had done to Snap....

As enraged as Rudy was about that act, he didn’t have the time or space to be feeling that emotion. His fear grew stronger as he became aware of Penny getting closer. She wasn’t coming over to try to hug him or see if he was okay. He could see the rage in her eyes, something he never thought he’d see her direct right at him. There were tears flowing down her cheeks as she got in closer, her whole body language screaming that she was about to attack. And if he just stayed here like this for any longer...

It had only been a couple of seconds that passed and Penny was already upon him. She lifted up something in the air as her teeth were bared fiercely. Rudy could feel his heart skipping several beats as he saw what it was. Horror dressed his face up and he could feel his heart struggling not to pop open.

Although he knew it wouldn’t work, he still attempted to defend himself.

“W-Wait... Penny...” Rudy pleaded with the girl. She must still care about him to some extent, right? She...She wouldn’t really do anything to hurt him that badly, right...? “Please... Don’t... He raised his arm up and cringed, hoping that the sight of this would make Penny realize what she was about to do.

But Penny just growled, her movements hardly slowed. Rudy felt his eyes widen further, locking onto Penny’s anger-filled ones. Before he could even blink, Penny struck down with what she had been holding.

A diamond bat.

The impact was instant.

Crack!

“Aaaaaaaaahhhh!”

Rudy’s screams echoed loudly all around and in his head. He soon became only faintly aware of his own cries and sobs as his world distorted into pain and agony. He curled up into a ball on the ground, clutching his leg tightly. The bat had hit him square on the thigh and he realized that the bone must be broken. His whole body trembled violently as he tried to control his breathing, growing ragged from his sobbing.

Rudy forced himself to look up at Penny, his agonized mind filling with questions. Disbelief joined the fear that dominated his head, and he struggled to say something. His voice was taken over by the whimpers of pain.

How could Penny do something like this? He....He thought they were friends... What could have compelled her to...

Well sure, he was angry at her, too. Her actions caused Snap’s death. But he would never have hurt Penny like this. He thought he could trust her. But here she stood over him, watching him as he squirmed on the ground, saying absolutely nothing. Rudy felt like he was going to be sick.

As his mind started to fade and wave about in pain, Penny just watched him coldly. Only anger and a tinge of hate floated about her face. There was no love or concern present anywhere. She no longer looked like the Penny that he knew. She had been replaced with somebody else. She had become a total stranger.

Rudy could feel a few tears of mourning before his fearful and pain-filled ones spilled out even more. A horrible bout of pain shot up his leg and he could feel his mind start to grow fuzzy. He struggled to stay awake. There was no way that he could keep that up for long, no matter how terrified that he was. His brain was giving up on staying awake and he couldn’t fight against it. Rudy could feel his body going limp on the ground. In a matter of seconds, he was going to be as vulnerable as a lost doll, with Skrawl and Penny free to do to him what they pleased.

The last thing that Rudy saw before everything disappeared into a wavering darkness was Penny’s continuously held harsh glare. She glared at him as though she felt he deserved this. Rudy made one more effort to speak, but his head plopped to the side. Almost mercifully, everything went dark and numb.


	2. Under New Management

Rudy’s eyes shot open almost immediately and he took in a few quick, heavy breaths. He turned his head left and right slowly, trying to gather his surroundings. He put his hand to his head and he gently rubbed it. He could feel his head pounding with an ache and he felt a little sickened.

It only took him seconds to realize that it was just a dream...and then seconds more to realize it was memories, reminding him of what had truly happened.

And at this realization, Rudy could feel the feelings of deflation coming over him. He collapsed back into the ground, feeling the hot tears pouring down his face. He trembled hard as he curled up into a small ball, a few sniffles sounding off from him. He had no idea why his brain needed to taunt him of that event. He didn’t know why he had to suffer these constant reminders of a time that he would much rather forget. Wasn’t it bad enough that he had been…

His thoughts trailed off as he attempted to relax himself on the ground. There was little that he could do right now. Surrounded by bars, chalkless, and chained, he was utterly trapped here. This had become his home and he had forgotten how much time had passed. Trapped within these walls, there was no sense of time passage. The only thing that told him that a significant amount of moments had zipped by was the fact that he was no longer a child.

He could not see himself, but he could look at his arms and see the hairs that formed on them, and he certainly didn’t feel small any longer. He was probably either in his late teens or early twenties. It did coincide with how much time he felt had passed by.

This place had more or less became his home. He would always wake up with a chain around his neck, hooking him up to the ground on a somewhat short chain. Around him, the bars connected to a medium-sized cage placed in the middle of a marble-carved room with no windows and a single, adjustable light overhead. The room itself outside of this cage looked nice, complete with smoothly shaped steps and a nice bed with a veil all around it.

Or at least, nice for anyone who had never seen this room, who hadn’t been trapped like animal as he had been here for years. If anyone knew what this place was really like...

As awful as it was to wake up to this reality, he had grown used to it. He still felt moments of depression and anxiety still ate away at his soul. But it was nothing like how he reacted when he first woke up.

He recalled the confusion and raw terror that he had felt when he first woke up in this place, chained up like some kind of animal. He remembered that he had seen Penny nearby and he had asked her what she was doing. He had momentarily forgotten that she had attacked him, and when he tried to get up, he was immediately reminded with a wave of horrible pain.

Seeing and hearing Penny talk to him and regard him in such a cold way was foreign and unexpected. She refused to release him, declaring her intent on keeping him there to ‘keep him from destroying more lives’. It was then that he realized that Penny blamed him for Snap’s death, which resulted in predictable anger and outbursts.

Rudy flinched at this memory. He couldn’t dare bring himself to argue with Penny, or rather Chalk Queen as she now goes by. She had her...ways of defusing him. He felt a pain radiating from his right thigh, which never healed properly from the attack, as he thought of that. The fact that Penny ensured that the leg would never heal right did not help his situation.

Penny might have had some reluctance initially, but it was apparent that it got easier for her to hurt him and to hurt zoners as she got comfortable in her new role. She had claimed to Rudy that the zoners would never forgive her for ‘killing their protector’, and she might as well act like a villain anyway. Rudy was horrified at the prospect of Penny making the zoners believe that he was dead, and wondered if she made his parents think he died as well.

The thought of his parents made his heart sink. He hadn’t seen them in years, and he had started to forget what they even looked like. He could only imagine what they must have gone through when Penny surely delivered the news. Or did she lead them to wonder what happened to their child, letting them believe that he just went missing? Rudy wanted to think that she wouldn’t be that cruel, but at the same time, with what she has become….

At this thought, he cringed. What probably scared him the most is the fact he really didn’t know all that she had done or what moves she had made. He only knew that she had told him, and each was more horrible than the last. Not knowing all that she did was even worse. He could only just begin to imagine the atrocities she had pulled, especially nowadays when she had gotten so loose and unrestricted with her actions. She had gotten too comfortable.

There had been a time when he would have been more willing to try to stop her. But now…. What good was he to anybody?

The act of self-deprecation was not knew. Rudy couldn’t remember when it all began. Not something he was particularly proud of. But what little option did he have when he was trapped here for years, and the only one that he could interact with had been…

He stopped his train of thought when he could hear the sound of something coming towards him. A set of footfalls, a door opening up. Rudy lifted his head up and he could see a figure walking into the large room he was kept in. He didn’t dare look away from her, a part of him fearful that she might lash out if he didn’t continue to watch her.

Penny didn’t walk like how she used to. There was a more distinctive sway to her gait, almost sultry and cunning in appearance of movement. This went along well with her new outfit. Not the one she had worn before, but something different. Long and silky and red. Conservative but still somehow shapely. A frilly, stringy, red scarf or whatever it was wrapped around her neck. This was about as fancy as she had gotten; her hair was still kept short, her fingernails and face were never adorned with any kind of make up, and she still wore a set of glasses, albeit smaller frames than before.

It was sometimes confusing to Rudy for Penny not to wear anything that looked like royalty, especially with her claims of being the Chalk Queen. But he never dared to contradict her.

Penny moved slowly towards Rudy, taking her time. She smiled at him, but that smile lacked any true positive emotion and the intent was not hidden well enough. Rudy knew exactly what Penny was doing down here and what she wanted from him. His only response to her was to flatten himself against the ground, his meekest attempt at avoiding a conflict.

“Oh hello there, little Rudy.” Penny said in a soft coo. She made her way towards the door and she was already moving in to unlock it. “Have you missed me? I do apologize oh so much for being late.”

Rudy could only just barely turn his head to one side. He felt only the slightest bit of urge to say ‘hell no’, but he knew his place here. He might not like it, but it was all that he had. His voice trembling and whispery, his answer flowed out of his lips. “I-I-I have… P… Chalk Queen…” He swallowed hard. “I am...g-g-glad that you had the s-s-spare time to...c-come here.”

Penny smiled a bit more broadly at this, making Rudy feel a little sick to his stomach. But such phrases, he had grown used to saying to Penny. It was one of the most efficient ways to….avoid being hurt. “You are welcome, my little chalk boy. Come on, I will keep you company for a while.”

Rudy could hear the sound of the door being unlocked all the way. The clanging metal, a sound of familiarity, still made his blood chill. He could see and hear Penny walking into the room now, and her shadow casted over him. He could feel her eyes feasting on his trembling, submissive form. Rudy might have been able to shout back at her before. Now he could only wait and let her do what that she wanted.

Penny watched him for a few seconds. The moments that ticked by went slowly, and it felt as though the air around him was getting thick. He shut his eyes tightly as he finally heard her start to walk towards him. He could almost feel her breathing against him despite her still standing and her shadow casted over him, creating a sort of shield from the light. He could hear her knee hitting the ground and he felt her body warmth moving even closer to him, the shadows now feeling like they were physically touching him like an invisible hand.

His skin tingled a little when he felt her hand pushing up against his chin. He didn’t dare try to struggle as he felt Penny pushing his head up. He barely resisted, his neck moving up like some sort of wet noodle. He stared up at Penny, his teeth clenching and his eyes filling up with fear. He held himself still, waiting to see what Penny was going to do next.

When she moved her hand towards him, he immediately flinched and looked away, shutting his eyes tightly. He could feel that hand moving along his head and back of his neck slowly. Penny moved nice and slow, causing his skin to crawl a little. The hand began to move further down along his back, the tips of the fingers lightly scratching him. He gave a small groan and shudder, his body stiffening up. He held still, still shaky, and he could feel the familiar feelings starting to return. The fluttery, calming sensations that he had started to get whenever Penny would do this. He was ashamed to admit that a part of him did seem to….

“I know how much you like it when I do this, Rudy. It makes you feel safe, does it not?” Penny’s soft voice filled the air, whispering into Rudy’s ears. He gave a small shudder and felt his head turning slightly when he could feel Penny start to scratch behind his ear a little like he were a dog. “You aren’t wrong. You are safe here. Out there is too dangerous for someone like you, my little one. Stay here where it’s warm and safe.”

Rudy couldn’t stop himself from releasing a small moan as Penny continued to scratch and pet him gently. This was so demeaning and he was disgusted with himself...and yet that didn’t stop the more fluttery feelings from taking a hold. His body went through a mixture of stiffening and relaxing as Penny got closer, her hand playing with his hair that elicited an instinctual feeling of being protected.

He then could feel Penny’s hand leaving him and he almost groaned in disappointment before he caught himself. He looked up to see her finger moving, a gesture to signal him to get closer. He swallowed hard before he crawled over closer, putting his head on her lap like she wanted him to. She then resumed stroking his hair.

Rudy could feel a mixture of emotions starting to overwhelm him, creating quite the conflict in his mind. Laying on Penny’s lap like this garnered many feelings of embarrassment and humiliation. This was just Penny’s way of continuing to control him. There was nothing that he was gaining from this. Well nothing, except some feel good sensations that he could not ignore. Despite how demeaning this was, Penny wasn’t attempting to hurt him right now, and the motion of her head along the top of his head did feel pretty good. He let his eyes start to flutter shut for a few seconds, managing to force them open at the last second.

Penny had gotten good at eliciting mixed emotions such as this. Using a combination of words and actions, she made him feel both under control and safe. He could sense the strength radiating off of her arms, making him imagine what she could do with them. There were moments when he started to think that maybe he was better off as her...slave as she put it.

There was still a mental part of him that tried to fight back against these thoughts. It was the sort of thing someone trying to induce Stockholm Syndrome on him would do. Was he really going to allow someone to pull that sort of cruel trick on him? Even if it was someone who he regarded as a friend in the past?

But this did still feel pretty good. He let his body start to relax. Even his shaking began to stop.

This had happened before. Several times, in fact, where he would start off terrified, but then start to relax as she petted him this way. It didn’t always work and sometimes he would try to wriggle a little in the middle of it. This time, he just held himself still, not wanting to provoke Penny today. Something told him that she was not in the best of moods right now. If he troubled her, he didn’t want to know what she would do to him.

There was nothing but silence for a while. At least, in the form of having no words. He could hear something else filling the air, though. And that was humming. It emanated from Penny’s mouth, going through her lips and reaching his ears. He recognized this melody. It was a remix of sorts from one of the songs they sang together years ago. It brought about a mixed set of emotions, both bringing him nostalgia and reminding him of the pain of how things used to be. And yet somehow, despite that, it was still a little bit comforting. He wasn’t sure how Penny managed to turn this into something that relaxed him into a state of not wanting to move. But here it was, plain as day.

Then Penny started to press her fingernails against the back of his neck, scratching it like he was a dog. Rudy could feel a bit of a stiffen in his body, his eyes widening, only to immediately relax and, as much as he hated it, lean in a little closer. It was not by much, but he knew that Penny had noticed it. He could hear her chuckling.

“I can’t stay long, Rudy. I have an important meeting with Skrawl later on.”

Rudy couldn’t help but notice how Penny never used ‘King’ with Skrawl, making him wonder if she overthrew him. Or perhaps Skrawl just opted out of that title seeing how it would have some unfortunate implications. Something told him that Skrawl never intended on Penny being a romantic couple.

Penny continued, “But I won’t leave until I make sure you’ve had your food and water. I know you must be so hungry and parched right now.” Her lips spread upwards a little, showcasing only a small percentage of genuine humor. “I’ll go ahead and bring you something. It shouldn’t take long. Just stay here and wait for me, sweetie.”

Rudy shuddered at that word. It made him feel more chilled than her physical interactions with him.

He felt his heart briefly sting when Penny pulled her hand away from him. He instinctively wanted to reach out towards her and make her continue. It took a few mental kicking for him to realize what he was even considering doing. He pulled himself back, pressing his teeth against his tongue, biting it hard. But he realized that there will eventually come a time when he wouldn’t be able to stop those kinds of thoughts. It was a miracle that he lasted this long.

He laid himself against the cold ground again as he looked up and watched Penny heading out of the cell. He noticed how she would always walk to the same spot. A corner out of his reach and sight. A hidden off area that only she could get access to. But it wasn’t really much of a secret, anyway. It was easy to tell that it was just a small refrigerator where she stored food for him from the Real World. All Penny had to do was kneel down and she had access to whatever was in the fridge. She pulled out a few things, kicked it shut, and then came back towards him.

Rudy could see that she was now holding some kind of sandwich and a bottle of water. A very small one. She headed towards him slowly, moving a bit straighter than she had earlier. Rudy could feel his arm aching a little as he pushed himself up a tad bit. His eyes focused on the sandwich and he could feel himself licking his lips a little. Penny had been right. He was hungry.

Penny knelt down and she handed him the sandwich. It was nothing very exciting. Just a simple meat and cheese sandwich. But to Rudy, it was the best thing he’s eaten in a while. Admittingly, that wasn’t really much to be proud of. That didn’t stop him from devouring the sandwich, albeit in a rather fast way. He thought he was going to choke as he swallowed large chunks of food. He soon managed to finish the sandwich.

But that wasn’t the most difficult part, nor was it particularly demeaning. The next thing that happened, however, was. It was something that Penny devised up herself. And why wouldn’t she? The woman had to find some way of preventing Rudy from using the water to his advantage, right?

Rudy waited until Penny got into position and then prompted him to come over. Rudy crawled over slowly. He felt a sense of dread as he came over. He tried to tame those thoughts, telling himself that it would be done and over with before he knew it. He just needed to toughen up and keep himself calm.

Soon Rudy leaned up against Penny, feeling her thick, strong arm slinking around him for support. As she held him like this, Rudy could see her lifting her free arm, the one holding the bottle of water. It was already opened up and he could see the water moving around inside. The sight of it made his thirst increase, and when Penny pushed the tip of it against his lips, he could do little to resist. He closed his eyes and allowed the clear fluid to move down his throat.

This whole thing was demeaning, being treated this way. Penny was essentially treating him like he was a little child. Or even worse than that. This was nothing more than a way for her to assert her control over him and he could do little except just allow it to happen. Rudy was disgusted with himself.

But that didn’t stop him from drinking the stuff. After all, he was pretty thirsty and this might be his only chance at getting something. He wasn’t interested in going a few more hours feeling so parched and dry in his mouth and throat. Plus this water did feel pretty good. Just having something in his stomach in general felt nice.

He didn’t attempt to spit the water out, though. Penny would strike him hard if he attempted that. She had even told him that this was the reason she had to hold him like this. She pretended like she didn’t want to do this and just had to, but it was clear as day to Rudy that she did really enjoy this and was just trying to hide it from him. Penny was keeping her eyes on him and was holding him in a way that made it hard for Rudy to do anything with the water in his mouth, much to his frustration. But he had gotten over the burning sensation of disappointment long ago. This had gone on long enough that he understood how impossible it would be.

At least it was over soon enough. Rudy could hear Penny releasing a small sigh as she pulled the bottle away from him. Rudy licked and smacked his lips a few times as he could still taste some of the water in his mouth. He felt Penny’s hands moving away from him now as she released him, allowing him to lay back upon the ground.

“Now go ahead and continue to rest.” Penny told him. She raised a finger up, her hand next to her face as she continued to smile at him. “I won’t be gone long. I’ll make sure to pay you another visit before I have to make my mandatory Real World appearances. I’m sure you understand that, right, hun?”

Rudy didn’t answer. There was little reason to answer right now. He laid himself on the ground, his head shifting a little away from Penny. Not like she cared. He could hear her chuckling to herself as she started to walk away. Rudy waited until she was far enough away before he turned his head enough to watch her.

These Real World appearances.... As far as she knew, they were related to more lies to her mother and his parents and making sure now one thought that she herself had disappeared as well.

He wondered just how good her acting was and how many people she had fooled. Or did she have a few detectives investigating his case who were on her ass? Regardless of either direction, Penny didn’t say anything about it. Either nothing happened or she was really good at hiding her emotions. And a part of him had some trouble believing the latter part, given how he could just feel her tone of hatred towards him despite it seemingly sounding sweet.

Whatever, at least he had some time to himself. He curled himself on the ground a little, letting out a small yawn with his lips pulling back a little in the process. He thought he could feel his jaws popping out of their socket. Then he turned his head on its side as he tried to get comfortable. There was little that he could do around here except think and sleep.

And he had already done enough thinking.

Rudy let out another yawn, his teeth snapping together as his jaws shut, before closing his eyes. He might as well take advantage of his alone time. Getting some rest without Penny’s demeaning gaze staring upon him like an object would do him some good. And to think, there had been a time when he would have been more open to the idea.

sss

Oh that Rudy, he was always fun to play with for a bit. But it would always get so boring so quickly. And her emotions, they loved to play tricks on her. She managed to keep them at bay for now, but she couldn’t ignore the fact that they were always there, hovering around her head to remind her of what had happened.

Penny furrowed her eyes. She was personally glad to be away from there for the time being. It wasn’t doing her any good being cooped up with Rudy of all people. She had been letting her anger start to show more through more and more, and it wasn’t doing her much good. She sucked in a long, forced breath as she licked her lips slowly. Perhaps she would take her time, rather than head back quickly. It would do her some good to be away from Rudy for a little while anyway, and she doubted that he’d really care if she wasn’t back when she said she would be.

Penny tilted her head up when she noticed a certain jellybean zoner pacing around in front of her. It was hard to miss him, especially in this massive, empty hallway. Even more so given the fact that the colors around them were predominantly white, with only some areas a different color, such as a red floor.

Skrawl didn’t take long to notice Penny coming. He stopped his pacing, though his arms were still folded behind his back. As Penny made her way towards him, Skrawl straightened himself up, showcasing how much larger he still was than her. Penny did not let herself be intimidated by this childish display.

“There you are! I told you to be here an hour ago!” Skrawl snarled. He raised his hand up, his claws curling inward towards his palms. “Where the fuck were you?!”

Penny just rolled her eyes, hardly threatened by the zoner’s aggression. Skrawl had little benefit from going against her. “I would think that you would be more appreciative, ‘King Skrawl’ if that’s what you prefer me to call you. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have succeeded in your plans.” She motioned her hand out towards him slightly. “I had something to attend to. At least I’m here now, right?”

Skrawl growled lowly, his teeth becoming more exposed. “Listen here, missy! I am the king here and you do what I say! When I tell you to meet me somewhere at a certain time, you’d best be there!” He pointed a claw at Penny, pressing the tip against her shoulder. She did not flinch. “This is my land now and I can easily kick you out if I so desired!”

Penny chuckled bitterly at this. She grabbed Skrawl’s hand and pushed it away. She then folded her hands to her chest, staring at him while her eyebrow raised up a little. “If you’ve forgotten, I’ll give you a reminder. I own as much of ChalkZone as you do. The citizens don’t belong just to you. They belong to me, too. So don’t throw your weight around and act like you’re the only one ruling this place.”

Skrawl said, “You aren’t around half the time!”

“Because I still exist in the Real World and I need to avoid an investigation on my behalf. You don’t want to expose ChalkZone, do you?” Penny asked. She could tell that Skrawl didn’t have much of a response to that. She just smiled at this and added in, “Besides, I do more to run this place better than you do.”

This clearly got under Skrawl’s skin. “What the hell makes you think that?!” He took a step forward and pointed a finger at her, almost pricking her again like he had before. “Everyone cowers when they see me!”

“But the zoners show more respect for me. They know what a creator could do.” Penny continued to smile slyly, her arms still folded and her head giving a slight cock to one side. Her smile broadened a little more when she saw how much this was annoying Skrawl. Oh how much fun he could be at times... “The only reason why they pay a lick of attention to you is because I’m at your disposal. If I decided to leave, then you would have....” She leaned in a little closer and she whispered under her breath, “...nothing.”

Skrawl’s mismatched eyes widened and flickered at this. Then he gave a sharp, shaky snarl like he was trying to threaten her. “You wouldn’t dare...”

Penny turned her head to the side, letting herself giggle. “Oh Skrawl, do you take me for a fool? Why would I want to give this up?” She raised her hands upward, holding them out at her sides. “For years, the zoners had paid more attention to Rudy than they did me. Now I have more influence than he ever had.”

This was partially forced out. There were more mixed emotions that she had to fight back, not wanting them to come to the surface. Not like Skrawl really noticed, though. He was too busy glaring at her like the idiot that he was.

This really was fun.

“....you really like yanking at my nerves, don’t you, Penny?”

“Chalk Queen!”

“Whatever...”

Skrawl waved his hand dismissively as if Penny’s threat didn’t bother him. He just looked away from her, his lip curling up with a sense of disgust and contempt. Penny growled at this, not appreciating the way that Skrawl was acting here. Sometimes Skrawl really liked to push his luck in the presence of a human. She could feel her magic chalk start to sparkle, but she resisted the temptation to pull it out.

Instead, she forced out an exhale as she tried to shift her thoughts to the task at hand. She had done enough playing around with Skrawl, anyway. “So what did you need to talk to me about this time?”

Skrawl swerved his head to glare at her, but he didn’t snap at her. He seemed to realize that he shouldn’t be so angry with her and he managed to keep himself calm. “There appears to be some sort of uprising in Happy Face Valley.”

Penny raised an eyebrow at this. She tried not to laugh. “Why would that pose a threat to us?”

“Well, Chalk Queen, they managed to outsmart our guards and stole some weaponry.” Skrawl’s voice grew dark, serious. Any sign of laughable anger was gone at this point. “They have been stopped, but not all of the resistance was captured. I fear that the remainders might find a way to get something strong enough to get m....” The massive green zoner stopped himself short for a moment and backtracked, “...us, you and me... And with us taken out, our whole regime crumbles.”

Penny narrowed her eyes deeply as Skrawl told her this. “Hmm... Yes, this is indeed a problem. We can’t afford to let everything we’ve worked so hard on fall apart.”

Skrawl asked, “What do you propose we do about it, my queen?”

Penny looked away from Skrawl for a few moments as she tried to ponder the answer. There did need to be something that had to be done, but what would be the most appropriate form of action? How could she deal with this without sparking further revolt but also appease Skrawl and keep the citizens of Happy Face Valley under control? She rubbed her chin thoughtfully for several seconds, pondering the answer.

An idea soon formed in her head and she gritted her teeth for a second. She turned to stare intently at Skrawl, her muscles tightening in anticipation.

“Leave it to me.”


	3. Trigger

This was getting tiring. Penny tried her best not to sigh in frustration. She stood there across the field, glaring at her opponents with furrowed eyes and pursed lips. They weren’t really difficult to defeat, but that was the problem. This was getting too repetitive and she would rather not waste her time.

But these zoners were stubborn, weren’t they? They didn’t look like they were going to back down anytime soon. If anything, they were just going to keep this up and continue to be a thorn in her side. She could easily take care of them, too, but she would rather try to figure out a more...permanent solution to this problem. She wasn’t interested in repeating this song and dance later on.

She gave a small smile. Thankfully, she did think of something that might work.

Penny took a few steps forward. That was all that she needed to do to get these zoners to raise up their weapons in self defense. She tried not to chuckle too loudly. But the very sight of seeing these zoners, these smiley faces, trying to scare her like this was just adorable. It made her all the more curious about how they managed to even get this far. Perhaps she could inquire about that and use that information for something in the future. Especially if it helps her better control ChalkZone in the future.

But for now, she was content with just staring down at these zoners, smiling and letting them wonder what she was going to do. She wanted to have a little bit of fun with them. That was better and more entertaining than just swiping at them and being done with it. The smiley faces were already expecting the worst from her. She might as well deliver on that part. She could feel a twinkle in her eyes.

“S-Stay back!” One of the smilies shouted as they raised up their weapon up. It looked like a simple long stick with a sharpened end. Penny felt amusement at the thought of this zoner somehow besting anyone with something like that. “W-We’ll kill you if you take a st-step forward!”

“So this is the best the resistance has to offer?” Penny moved her hand to her mouth and gave a small yawn, exaggerating it a little. “You decide to ambush me when I come in hopes of freeing your friends, and you come at me with...this?” Penny pushed her finger against the stick’s tip, not reacting to the small prick that she got when she pushed at it, forcing the smiley wielding it to fall down. “You were more intimidating when I was a child.”

Another smiley rushed over. They checked on their comrade before turning to glare at Penny. “Haven’t you done enough damage, Chalk Queen? You’ve been taking everything from us, including our homes!”

“I still let you live in them.” Penny said flatly, rolling her eyes.

The smiley clearly didn’t sound happy with that answer. “But you impose a fine and a tight rule! Isn’t it enough that you already control our cities? Why can’t we be safe in our own home?”

Penny gave the zoner a smile. She still had that trump card she wanted to play that would make them stop for certain. It was a low blow and a part of her really didn’t want to use it. But it seemed like the only thing that would force these zoners into compliance. Surely after hearing what she had to say, they wouldn’t dare try anything else.

But first, she felt she should answer the zoner’s question. After all, they did have the courage to ask her this question. She should provide an answer, should she not?

She began by reaching out to pat the smiley zoner on top of their head. They went rigid and growled and they quickly raised up their weapon. A laser gun instead of a pointed stick was more impressive and intimidating, but it just barely got a reaction out of Penny. She just yawned as though it was just a little toy, and her hand moved down to the trembling zoner’s cheek.

“Now, now, no need for that sort of reaction, you little darling, you.” Penny lowered herself down onto her knee so that she was more eye level with the zoner. “I know you’re upset with the way that I’ve been running things, and I do apologize for that sincerely. I’ve only ever wanted the best for you zoners. Sure I had to take over, but thus is life.” She continued to smile. “Sometimes things just don’t go the way that you want them.”

The smiley zoner ripped away from her, nearly tripping over their friend. The remaining resistance escapers, just a handful, approached, each holding some kind of weapon that they managed to salvage. Penny got up and took a step back, looking all around her. The zoners had gotten her surrounded and it was clear that they were going to try to intimidate her into compliance. She tried not to roll her eyes. Did they really think that they could get away with something like this?

Well she supposed now was a good time as any to set forth her trump card.

“We don’t need your kind of help!” One of the smiley faces shouted, their voice rather shaky.

“Th-That’s right! We demand that you give us back our freedom, Chalk Queen!” Another cried out, trying so hard to keep standing. The fear must be tearing them apart so brutally on the inside. “You took away so many of our loved ones and locked them up! You’ve taken away our food supply and you took control of our water!”

“This world is supposed to be free, for zoners to do what they had been purposed to do. But you’ve transformed it into a massive jail and you force us zoners to walk down a rigid line and meet your standards just for the ‘privilege’ of living here!”

Penny raised up an eyebrow slowly. She did feel something at this comment but it wasn’t that strong. She would sometimes still react to the emotional outbursts of these zoners. She had managed to tame it enough. You get good at that when you’ve dealt with something like this over a prolonged period of time. It just becomes second nature.

Another zoner yelled at her, their voice filled with more shaky emotion, “This rule of yours will not last, Chalk Queen! I swear it! One day we will get back what we should own and everything that you’ve taken from us! We will.... ack!”

Penny grabbed onto the zoner’s neck. It was a bit of a hard task to do considering the shape of this zoner. She ended up holding onto the front of their throat. But that wasn’t too difficult to pull off, her fingers digging into the skin as she lifted them up. The zoner wriggled about violently as they tried to escape. The others moved in to try to help them, but Penny just squeezed tighter, making the little zoner gag painfully and the others to back up out of fear. Penny stared down into the zoner’s widening eyes, her smile growing larger and more twisted.

“So you have high hopes, do you? That’s really admirable of you.” She tilted her head to one side slightly. “It’s always good to aim for high dreams. But you want to know who else did the same thing? I mean, aiming high of course. His destiny was ultimately different from yours, but...” Penny moved her finger closer and tapped against the side of the zoner’s head. “I’m sure you’re still familiar enough with him.” She leaned in a little closer, her voice becoming a little hissed. “Snap...”

This immediately got the zoners’ attention. The smiley faces looked at one another, their faces showing off a myriad of emotions. She could see the guilt in their eyes, as well as the hidden anger. This was the sort of response that she had expected to see, considering their history with Snap. So she wasn’t at all surprised to see one of the smiley faces approaching her despite shaking in terror.

“H-How could you...?” The zoner asked in a shaky voice. “H-He was your best friend!”

Penny, in truth, felt some bile rising in her stomach as she continued to talk about this. But at the same time, this did still seem effective enough. The fear would surely help to keep the zoners back and submit. If they were that attached to Snap, then...

Penny forced herself to give off a dark grin. The zoners around her immediately cowered, steadying their weapons, clearly expecting an attack. “He did get a chance to ‘rise up’, if that’s what you’re worried about. He did get to be the center of attention before it was all over. And he certainly went out with a....bang.” She twisted her head dramatically to one side, letting her teeth bare as her eyes gave a sharp twinkle. “Have any of you wanted to be a star like that? If you let me, I can make sure no one forgets you ever again.”

She could feel the intense hatred of the zoners around her, particularly the one that she was still holding. Despite the fact that she had him in a practical strangle hold, they still managed to spew out some venom at her.

“Y-You are a monster...” The smiley managed to say. “You were supposed....su-supposed to be one of our p-p-protectors.... A-A-And instead you k-killed Snap....and you killed R-Rudy...” He swallowed hard despite how difficult it was. Then he said in a low, hoarse voice, “I hope you burn in hell.”

Penny felt a sharpness in her heart at this statement, her eyes going wide for a few moments. She didn’t let it last too long and she was back to glaring at the zoner, a bitter smile replacing her previous smirk. She calmly lifted the zoner closer to her and did not hesitate to squeeze their throat more tightly. This caused them to gasp in pain and they struggled to get free of her. Penny moved her finger towards them to scratch lightly at their chin.

“You know, Snap visited something similar on that day. It was equally hot, I’m sure.” Penny cocked her head to the side again. “I’m sure you would enjoy it. Why don’t I...take you there?”

The zoner seemed to have an ‘oh shit’ moment and they immediately started to wriggle free. They pushed their hands against hers and tried to pry her fingers from their throat. “No! Please! I’m sorry! Please don’t....!”

“Heheheh... Why are you so worried? Think of this as a reward!” Penny said with a chuckle. She was doing her best to hide her other emotions under the blanket of the smile. “You’ll get to see something than most other zoners don’t have the privilege to see: exactly where it all began. And I know you liked Snap. Wouldn’t it be an honor to see the last thing he saw before he died?”

“J-Just let me go! P-Please!” The zoner shouted in desperation, tears forming in their eyes.

Penny smirked at this. Just as she thought. This zoner almost immediately began to break down when she started to talk about Snap. That zoner must have really meant something to them in order to get this sort of response. Of course, she couldn’t really care less about how these zoners felt about Snap; she was the only one who truly cared for him. If they cared, then why did none of them try to help him? If Rudy cared, why didn’t he try harder to draw what needed to be drawn?

But still, this was still the reaction that she thought she would get. The zoners just staring at her, too shaky to move. Regardless of what their feelings were for Snap, it was clear that they were acutely aware of how he died, or rather how Skrawl said that he did. Exaggerated, but it was enough to strike fear into these zoners’ minds. For one of the few times, Skrawl was actually pretty useful and his exaggeration of what happened was what was keeping these zoners at by. They were shaking in raw terror as she held up one of their own, her glinting eyes strongly suggesting that she was interested in going through with what she said.

Of course, she wasn’t and had a different plan in mind for this zoner. But the others around her didn’t know that. That was why they were hesitating to help their friend. They were worried that the same thing was going to happen to them. They didn’t seem willing to leave so there was still some loyalty left. But seriously, she could probably put a knife to his throat and they still would not budge.

Slowly, Penny exhaled, her voice being light and almost levity in nature. Or at least, that’s how she liked to imagine her voice sounding like. “I think you all should come with me.” She pointed a finger at the smiley that she was holding. “Or are you all interested in not only watching your friend here suffer the same fate as Snap, but join in as well? I’m sure I could make room.” She let her smile broaden further. “There’s plenty of room.” She motioned towards the horrified zoners. “It’s all up to you.”

One of the smilies growled at this. “How... How dare you...”

“Tick tock...” Penny said mockingly as she moved her finger from side to side. “Time is running out.”

The zoners around her were clearly furious by the way that she was acting right now. She could feel their glares piercing into her body and try to rip her apart from the inside out. But of course, none of them would even dare try. The threat of losing a friend and themselves to Snap’s fate was more than enough to keep any one of them from trying to attack her. The icing on the cake was when she raised up her magic chalk, showing them that she hadn’t been dumb enough to come here unarmed. The sight of that forced all of them to drop their weapons.

Penny’s crooked smile stretched even further. This had gone a little quicker than she thought. Well good; that would make things go smoother and a lot easier. Wasting more effort on something repetitive would have just bored her.

Penny wasted no time in raising her hand up to move her long, slender finger forward and back, silently gesturing for the other zoners to come with her. And one by one, they began to follow her reluctantly, heads lowered. It was amazing what some simple wordplay can do. Words were like the most powerful sword, even though that sounded incredibly cheesy. But hey, why waste energy when simple vocalization of a few sentences would do far more damage than the swipe of a sword?

She smirked down at the zoner that she still held on so tightly. She would let Skrawl figure out what to do with this guy. And as for the others, they could just rejoin their friends. She was such a merciful queen, wasn’t she?

sss

Well over ten years at least.... Had it really been that long already? Rudy looked over the markings he made on the ground with his saliva, having put it against his nails, to make down how many days he believed had gone by. He could only go on Penny’s appearances and he knew this couldn’t be completely accurate, but...

Yeah, it’s been about ten years. Most likely more than that he was certain. Especially with how adult Penny looked, and himself.

He didn’t know why he kept telling himself stuff like this. He didn’t know what the point of it all was. Except for one thing, and that was to remind himself of his horrible mistake all those years ago. It might not be a healthy thing to continuously bomb himself with grief and blame. But there wasn’t much else that he felt that he could do anyway. He was well aware that he was the reason that this all had happened. Penny had reminded him so often, but he was stubborn and didn’t let it sink in until sometime later.

Penny was right. If he had been fast enough to save Snap, if he had just drawn that fucking milk, he wouldn’t be in this mess. Snap would still be alive and Penny wouldn’t have... His thoughts trailed off as tears moved down his face. He sniffled a few times as he tried to endure the bitter thoughts of how his friend died because of him.

He missed Snap so much. Sometimes, he could still see his face smiling at him. Sometimes that face would morph into screaming, his face contorting in agony. Rudy often had mental images of himself struggling to bring something to help Snap get out, but he was remaining in place. And then he could see Penny glaring at him, wondering why he wasn’t moving faster. And then she would...

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the sound of the door opening up. He turned his head and felt his body immediately flatten to the ground when he saw it was Penny, Chalk Queen... He swallowed hard and immediately shifted his gaze away. He didn’t want to look threatening to her.

He could feel her getting closer to him, just like before. He could feel every footstep, every breath that escaped through her lips. He often could tell what kind of mood that she was in. He was thankful that she didn’t seem too upset right now. But that could easily change. He gritted his teeth tightly, his mind spinning a little. He tensed himself up and he prepared himself for whatever Penny was going to do this time.

It wasn’t always the same, either, which made it worse. Penny would alternate in her actions. Sometimes it was more pleasant but other times she might get a little rough with him. Were this random alterations on purpose? He wanted to think that they were. It would make sense for Penny to want to keep him on edge. He did more or less deserve it, anyway. He was the one who let down Snap. He was the one who murdered his best friend.

“Aren’t you a rude little boy. I thought you would have asked me how my day went.” Penny said in a small huff. Rudy could tell that her tone was fake. “But I’m sure you will ask anyway and I will answer.” Penny was already opening up the door. And she stepped inside, and the door shut behind her. “I’ve had to deal with some of those smiley faces. They were causing some trouble. Snap was right about them. They can be very annoying.”

Rudy felt his eyes widen at the mention of Snap and the smiley zoners. She must be talking about Happy Face Valley. Rudy remembered it as he had seen it in his childhood. He didn’t know how it looked now. Somehow, he doubted he really wanted to know.

Penny knelt down beside him. At this point, she hadn’t tried to touch him yet. This didn’t reassure Rudy all that much, though, and he still found himself pulling away from her. Penny ignored this and continued talking.

“I am happy to tell you that I managed to spare those zoners myself. Of course, I can’t say for what Skrawl will do with them.” Penny said as she shrugged her shoulders, acting nonchalant about the whole thing. Rudy couldn’t help but stare at her in horror at this. Penny chuckled, “Oh calm down, Rudy! You know Skrawl isn’t all that gun-ho about killing weak zoners like that. He much prefers to just put them to work or lock them up.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Honestly, no need to get worked up.”

Rudy forced himself to look away from her again. His thoughts were abuzz and he could feel his mind’s gears turning and shifting. He could feel his body shaking with emotion as he thought about what Skrawl would and could do. It didn’t matter what Penny told him. He had his doubts that Skrawl would hold back. This was Skrawl they were talking about, after all. He’s...not exactly the nicest person.

And it was still so chilling for him to hear Penny talk so lowly about the zoners. She didn’t seem to care anymore. Was it because of the zoners turning on her? Had she always disliked them and the truth was now unfolding? Was it something else? Whatever the reason, either way, it was enough to make Rudy’s skin cover itself in goosebumps. This was so different from the Penny he once knew.

“They mentioned you.”

Rudy looked up at this statement.

Penny continued, “Oh yes, they were angry at how I ‘killed’ you. Heheheh...” Penny pulled her head back, her creepy smile plastering over her face. “Can you believe it? They still think that I killed you! Oh sure, I played up the drama and all...” She made a few dramatic gestures with her hand and arm. “...but you would think they’d see through the little lie. Hah, I guess the zoners really do reflect the IQ of the little children who drew them.”

Rudy felt his blood burning in his body when Penny insulted the zoners and young creators like that. He felt himself wriggle a little on the ground, the cuff around his neck tugging at him to stop him from going out too far. Rudy let out a low growl of frustration and silenced himself.

If Penny noticed this, she was acting like she hadn’t. She carried on for a little while longer, spewing out some more details of what happened. It was as if she didn’t want to hold this in and needed someone to talk to, and considering his position, Rudy was a perfect target. “And then they started to get angry at me for what happened to Snap! They really think that I am the one who killed him! And that I should ‘burn in hell’ for it!” She let out a few more chortles, some of them laced in bitterness, before she gave Rudy a sideways glance. “But you and I know the truth, don’t we?”

Rudy didn’t know why he did what he did next. It just spilled out, his emotions pushing it out of his head. In that moment, the consequences of what he did had no meaning. In a burst of sudden anger, Rudy shouted, “Snap’s death was your fault!”

There was a sudden silence. There was a stillness that spread that caused Rudy’s heart to chill, skipping a few beats. He immediately froze, regret and horror washing over his face when he saw Penny slowly turning to look at him.

There was no glare on her face just yet. But the way that those eyes looked... Rudy swallowed hard and he cringed back. His first instinct was to run, but this shackle around his neck kept him from moving too far from her. He suddenly felt his body shivering in fear, defenselessness dawning on his mind. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open, and all the while Penny just stared at him with that intense, blank expression.

Slowly, Penny got closer towards him, staring at him straight on. She soon loomed over him and it was then that Rudy noticed how strong she was. Definitely stronger than he, and he remembered what she had done to him in the past. He immediately attempted to appease her.

“P-Please, Chalk Queen! I-I-I didn’t mean it!” Rudy pleaded with her frantically, desperate not to get hurt again. “Please...h-have mercy!”

But Penny’s expression did not change. She simply just walked around behind him a little, standing right beside him. Rudy looked up at her worriedly, struggling to breathe, fear written all over his face. Penny still remained calm, but he could feel the heat starting to rise up from her body. And he knew this wasn’t going to lead to anything good.

“...you dare to tell me that I’m at fault...?” Penny asked silently, eerily calm.

Rudy shook his head frantically. Tears burned at his eyes and cheeks. “No....I-It was an accident!”

Penny’s eye twinkled sharply as she tilted her head to one side. “...that’s what you said about Snap’s death...”

Rudy felt his heart sink at this statement. He tried to think of something else that he could say. But he could only draw in a blank. He swallowed loudly and he realized that there was nothing he could do to calm down Penny. Not when she was in this mood.

Which meant that he couldn’t stop her from doing what happened next.

“You rotten little monster! I see that there’s still a part of you who is trying to escape the blame that you deserve!” Penny’s voice was loud at this point, causing Rudy’s ears to ache. But that was the least of his problems. “I see you need another lesson!”

Rudy knew it was pointless, but he still whimpered, “Please...d-don’t...”

Rudy could feel his eyes flying open as a sharp pain spread throughout his leg. He let out a scream of agony and it didn’t take him long to realize what had just happened. Penny had stomped down on his right thigh, right on where the break had been years ago. Horrific pain crawled up through his body, creating sharp pinches of cold pain that dominated him. Rudy immediately tried to get away, but he was always within Penny’s range and she stomped down on his right thigh again.

Rudy trembled in pain as he still tried to, in vain, get away. He pulled and tugged at his neck cuff frantically, twisting and turning. But Penny always managed to get a blow in, and his right leg felt like it was catching on fire. Rudy screamed repeatedly, his cries getting progressively louder. This was eventually stopped when Penny covered his mouth to silence him. She held him down and used her hand to assault his damaged leg further, and Rudy’s screams were replaced with choked sobbing.

It wasn’t until Rudy started to wrench a little from the sheer agony of it all that Penny finally relented. She roughly pushed Rudy into the ground and moved back, her hands on her hips and her narrowed eyes watching him in contempt. Rudy didn’t bother looking up at her, crying softly on the ground. Despite her having let him go, he could still feel the pain echoing throughout his body.

Then, after forcing herself to exhale heavily, Penny said, “I do hope that you’ve learned your lesson, Rudy.”

He couldn’t bring himself to answer her. He didn’t even have the strength to glare at her. He continued to lay there on the ground, curled up into a ball, clutching his painful leg. He was crying so much that he soon could not breathe through his nose.

Penny released a small sigh before she moved in closer. Rudy could feel her presence beside him again as she positioned herself beside him once more. He looked up at her in fear when she started to reach out towards him again. He cringed away from her, pressing himself against the ground in self defense.

“Shush now, Rudy. I’m not going to hurt you this time.” Penny said to him. She sounded much calmer than before, but the anger was still there. “Just let me take a look at your leg.”

Rudy wanted to pull his leg away from her. But there was no point in that. He had little choice but to allow Penny to examine his leg, the some one that she had been attacking previously. He could feel her hands moving along his leg, this time lightly. There were still a few stings here or there despite Penny’s attempt at being gentle this time. Rudy forced himself to hold still and tensed up his body as he waited, forcing his eyes closed so that he couldn’t need to watch.

Penny’s hands moved along his leg, gently rubbing it as though she were trying to ease the pain. And though Rudy would not admit it, this act seemed to be working. Some of the pain did feel like it was growing fuzzy and numb, practically flying away. And when he looked up at her, it almost seemed like she looked a little apologetic. Or was that just his imagination?

Penny soon pulled away and walked out of the cage for a minute, leaving the door open. Rudy watched her in curiosity as she got out another bottle of water, and then went towards one of the cabinets. She rummaged through it until she brought out what looked like a small packet of pills. She took out two of them and then headed back into the cage.

“Here, take these.” Penny said as she got down onto her knees in front of him. Rudy stared at the pills with uncertainty. “They will take away the pain, and help you fall asleep.”

Rudy blinked at her, the remaining tears he still shed trickling down his face.

Penny frowned at this. “Don’t look at me like that. Just do what I say.”

Rudy just stare at Penny for a few more seconds before he looked down at the pills that she was offering him. He felt a sharp pain jetting out into his leg, prompting him to take the pills and the water bottle from her. For a rare time, he was allowed to let himself drink on his own. He only took a few seconds to swallow the pills and the small pieces of condensed chemicals moved rapidly into his stomach.

Penny took away the water bottle and reached down to stroke his hair. He cringed at her touch, waiting for her to do something else to him anyway. But instead, she just whispered one thing to him before leaving him.

“Try to get some sleep, Rudy.”

Rudy watched as Penny left. He tried to think of something to explain what had happened. He tried to shake it off. Probably just another way of Penny to toy with him, though just how this time, he wasn’t sure. It did seem in her nature as of late, but then what about that expression he saw her make just now? Could he write that off or....?

Nonetheless, he still forced himself to lay down and wait for the pills to take effect. He could use some rest, anyway.

sss

Skrawl smiled with a toothy grin, chuckling as he watched the situation before him. He folded his arms to his large, jellybean-like body, and he remained silent. What was there a need to speak for when he could just enjoy himself?

The resistant members that had been captured oh so well by the Chalk Queen were getting exactly what they deserved. He could have let them off more easily by just killing them off. But what fun would that have been? He wanted them to suffer for daring to defy his rule, his law. They knew what they were doing was illegal. Yet they did it anyway. This served them right. They should have known better.

He shook his head. What was going on with the zoners? He thought that they had learned their lesson long ago. Now these resistance groups were forming and it was becoming a real problem. If he and the Chalk Queen didn’t do something to mellow things out more permanently, they would soon have trouble. This group might have been lucky in overthrowing local authority. But who was to say that the next time would not be?

He furrowed his eyes deeply at this thought. Something must be done about this and fast.

Just where was the Chalk Queen right now, anyway? He grumbled to himself when he realized that she had disappeared again. He rubbed his forehead as he tried to keep a headache from spreading throughout his skull. He wondered just what that girl could possibly be doing. She had a duty to keep up. He didn’t hire her on as his partner just for her to waltz around and do what she wanted. And besides, it was he who should have that luxury, not her. This had been his brilliant plan, and she needed to learn to respect him more.

His thoughts were cut off when he noticed the arrival of someone coming towards him. It certainly wasn’t Penny. He would have recognized her from her tall stance. No, instead, it was just merely Craniac coming to speak with him.

Craniac had been hired on as an assistant. It was kind of difficult to run this place without some outside help. And his computerized brain seemed like the perfect thing to keep track of things like stats. It was Craniac who would inform them of any worrying pattern and he also would tell them he noticed anything suspicious outside of just mere analytical numbers. In fact, it was this robot that had told him about the uprising to start with.

The fact that he was coming to him again... Skrawl furrowed his eyes. Just what could the robot zoner be wanting to tell him this time?

“Say, Skrawl, can I ask you a question?” The red tinted bot asked as he got close enough.

Skrawl tilted his head slightly, growling softly. “...well...?” He asked after he waited for a few more seconds than he wanted to.

Craniac quickly got the hint. “Have you seen the queen?”

Skrawl blinked at this. “Why do you want to speak to her?” He then raised his hand up in gesture, curling his talons inward. “She is quite busy with important matters.” He refrained from telling the robot that he didn’t know where she was. If he did, word might spread and it might weaken his grasp in some way. He could not afford that.

“I need to run something by her.” Craniac leaned his body from one side to the other, trying to look behind Skrawl. “So where is she?”

“I do....” Skrawl stopped himself before he finished that statement. He backtracked and said, “I don’t think you have a right to know.”

Craniac put his... ‘hands’ on his sides. “I was hired by you two! I can’t perform my duties if I can’t report to both of you!”

Skrawl curled his lip up slightly, giving something of a bitter grin. “But you do not rank as high as we do. If we decide we don’t want to see your ugly mug, then we can!” He pointed his claw at the robot zoner, nearly pushing him back. “You need to learn your place!”

“This is so inefficient!” Craniac said with a groan. “If you would just tell me....”

“Tell you what?”

Skrawl and Craniac both froze. They turned their heads and they could see the Chalk Queen standing there, her arms folded tightly against her chest, her deep brown eyes glaring at them directly. Both were silent for a few moments, stunned by her sudden arrival, before either of them attempted to speak.

“Oh there you are, my queen.” Craniac immediately bowed to show his servitude. Skrawl rolled his eyes at this. He was just being a kiss ass...or bot or whatever. “I need to talk to you about something important.”

The Chalk Queen nodded her head slowly. “Okay, I’m all ears.”

Skrawl noticed how she didn’t seem to react to the zoners being punished. There was no way that she couldn’t hear that. Had she gotten used to her job or was she just trying to focus on Craniac? He didn’t really know exactly how to feel about that. But regardless, that was hardly his concern. What really got his attention was just what the heck did Craniac want her for.

“There’s been some structural damage to The Future Dome recently. The piping systems are a bit...inadequate.” Craniac motioned his hands to the side in gesture. “I was wondering if there was any you could fix it, or else my own citizens are going to experience a pretty nasty flood, and a lot of them are robots. You know how we robots take to water.”

“You can’t.” Skrawl said bluntly.

“Correct.” Said Craniac, raising a claw up. “So we’re talking a huge loss of life here if something isn’t done. The citizens have been complaining for the past few months about these issues. But nothing was done and the trickling has gotten worse.” Craniac spread his hands outward dramatically. “Now we’re facing a crisis.”

The Chalk Queen just stared at Craniac as though he lost his mind. She widened her eyes a little, keeping her arms folded the way that they were. Then she started to smile and released a few chuckles through her gritted teeth. This caused Skrawl to stare over at Craniac. Just what did she find so funny?

Slowly, she raised her hand up in gesture, her eyes softly closing. “Did you get dropped on your head or something? Did you say ‘your citizens’...?”

Craniac immediately nodded his glass dome head. “Why yes! The Future Dome has always been my territory. That was part of the deal.”

“Nope.” The Chalk Queen stated simply as she shook her head. “I said that you could still act like its leader, but I still outrank you. The Future Dome is still mine and you are still beneath me.” She took a few steps closer, staring intently at the red robot zoner. “You will not attempt to speak as if you’re at my level again, do you understand me, Craniac?”

The light crimson robot zoner cringed a little, huddling inward against himself as he nodded his head. “Y-Yes, ma’am. I understand. I am sorry.”

“You are forgiven.” The Chalk Queen’s voice became a little softer and a little less intimidating. She relaxed her posture, shifting into a more thoughtful stance. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she stared down at the zoner before her, the words likely sifting around in her head. After she gave Craniac that exaggerated thoughtful expression for a few minutes, she said, “All right then, I suppose I can supply you the tools that you’ll need to repair that pipe system.”

“But I thought that you were...” Craniac started to say.

The Chalk Queen chuckled, closing her eyes while raising her hand up in gesture. “I don’t recall you saying that you want me to go there myself. You just wanted some assistance and I’m giving it to you. That is what ‘leaders’ do, right?” She reopened her eyes and smirked at Craniac. “Unless you don’t want to be the ‘leader’ anymore.”

Craniac grumbled at this, a few sparks shooting inside of his glass dome head as he tried to think of a way to counter this. He didn’t try for very long, though, and he eventually just slumped a little in defeat. “Okay, my queen. What tools do I need?”

“I will drew them and have Skrawl deliver them for you.” The Chalk Queen said without hesitation or holding of breath.

Skrawl’s eyes went wide at this. He turned to glare at the Chalk Queen. He narrowed his eyes deeply and growled, storming towards her with his claws flexing a little. When he got up to her, he attempted to intimidate her a little with his size. But the Chalk Queen did not react at all to him and just smiled at him like nothing was going on. This didn’t stop Skrawl from bringing his hand forward and showing her his claws.

“You do not order me around... I am the king here! He asked you for help! There’s no reason why you can’t bring those tools to him yourself...”

The Chalk Queen gave a light chuckle at this. “Oh silly Skrawl...” She reached forward with her hand and pressed it against Skrawl’s chin. “You know that it will take me until tomorrow to get all the parts drawn. I would have to go to that city myself to double check. And you know what tomorrow is for me.”

Skrawl stared at her in silence.

The Chalk Queen leaned in towards him, her smile spreading outward almost unnaturally. “That’s my ‘special day’, remember....?”

Skrawl took a moment to realize what she meant and his eyes immediately narrowed, curling his lip up in frustration. Of course, how could he have forgotten? Dear genius girl here always took the same day out of the week completely off, allowing him to take over. This was why she was giving him the task of delivering the parts to Craniac’s city. And he knew that, no matter what he said, he could not convince her to change her mind or delay this ‘special day’ of hers. She was stubborn and she would not change her ‘tradition’.

But just what did she do on these days? She would never elaborate on them. She would just disappear and he didn’t know if she was still in ChalkZone or in the Real World. It frustrated him to no end and he regarded her as just slacking off on the job. The only reason why he didn’t do too much about it is because it was the one day of the week that he could manage things entirely without her input and criticism. So it wasn’t entirely bad.

Still, it was a bit of a concern of his. The zoners might be wondering what the Chalk Queen does on these days, why her face is absent, and they might start questioning the rule even more. Considering these riots, having the zoners even more questioning was not something that they could afford. He would need to figure out exactly what she does on these does and why she’s gone for so long.

Asking her outright was not going to work. So he was going to need to find a different way. In the meantime...

“I will get right on that, Chalk Queen.” Skrawl said as he gave a quick salute to the human before him. “Just come find me when you are ready.”

The Chalk Queen merely gave him a smile as she turned and walked away, leaving the two zoners alone.

Skrawl remained silent as he glared at the retreating human. A low growl emanated from his mouth, his yellow crooked teeth becoming more bared. He was hardly aware of Craniac getting away from him as quickly as possible as he spent the next several seconds glaring at the Chalk Queen. He licked his lips slowly and gave a small snort.

He was going to find out what she’s up to on these days. He didn’t care if it would take weeks or months or years. He would uncover her secrets and figure out just the hell she has been doing behind everyone’s backs.

He would be certain of it.


	4. A Queen’s Mental State

She had no idea how long she was just sitting here, leaning up against the table with her fingers rubbing her forehead. She didn’t know where the massive headache had come in from. She guessed it was from having to listen to Skrawl’s mouth run or hearing Craniac once again plead with her to make some repairs for him. Well, she supposed it was part of the ride. She did put that in their terms of agreement, did she not?

But at least she wouldn’t need to deal with them anymore for the rest of the night. She could just say here and relax, preparing herself for bed. It was one of the few times that she was able to escape and just not have to worry about her duties.

And it let her get away from.....him.

Penny narrowed her eyes softly as she thought about her previous interaction with Rudy. A part of her didn’t really know why she had done that with Rudy. Hurting him only to give him medication soon after. She just....did it, almost like it was a natural thing. She didn’t think that she felt much of anything outside of anger when she attacked him. Had she only helped him because his crying was annoying her, or was there something a bit more to it than that?

Well at this rate, it didn’t matter. She didn’t need to think about that boy any further. She didn’t need to worry about what he was going to say or do next. She just needed to relax, close her eyes and just forget about what had happened. And the first place that she could think of starting was, of course, the bathroom.

Penny almost laughed when she could see the way that she looked in the mirror. Gone was her usual attire as she had switched into something more casual, loose fitting and almost raggly, or whatever the proper term was. Her hair was a bit messed up and some of it fell in front of her face. She looked rather tired and beat from another long day’s work. She felt slightly weak as she leaned in a little, supported just from her hands gripping the sink’s edge. She could have sworn she could see some dark coloring under her eyes. Subtle, but still there.

Penny stayed like this for a few moments before she reached up towards the cabinet and opened it up. She pulled out her toothbrush and toothpaste. She turned the sink on and she proceeded to start brushing her teeth.

But only a few seconds in, she noticed that the water seemed a little...blue instead of clear like it should be. She turned the water off for a few moments and then turned it right back on. This time, the blue had gone away and she shrugged her shoulders, realizing that it was just a trick of the mind. She resumed brushing her teeth and this time, it went normally, just the usual day that she would have.

That is, until near the end, when she was about to finish up. She reached over to pick up a glass to bring it to the sink. Time to rinse out her mouth. She put something mint flavored in there, swished it around, and spat it out. Then she turned the sink on to fill up a cup of water to help clear her throat.

But when she did, something was very wrong.

Now the water suddenly looked not just bluer, but a little thicker than normal water. Then other shakes of blue came in and even white. Penny could only stare at the cup as the colored water rippled around there, swirling on its own. And then she could start seeing eyes forming, popping open and looking up at her almost accusingly. It didn’t take her long to recognize what this face reminded her of.

Then suddenly...

“Why did you do it, Penny...?”

The young woman nearly screamed when she heard that disembodied voice calling out to her. She nearly dropped the cup, her body shaking from the shock. She took a moment to look around as if thinking someone planted devices to listen to her around her house. But considering what this voice sounded like, there was no way anyone in the Real World would have done this. But then, what the fuck was going on here?

Penny swallowed hard as she stared down at the face in the cup. She could see that same face glaring up at her accusingly, and she felt herself trying so hard not to stumble back. She smacked her lips a little and she choked out, “S-Snap....”

‘Snap’ did not give any sort of hint that he was happy to see her. “Why did you kill me...?”

Penny swallowed hard at this. She struggled inside of her head to think of something to tell her fallen friend. There was a tiny portion of her brain telling her that this isn’t real, but her emotions were overpowering her logic. Right now, all that she was aware of is that Snap seemed to be trying to communicate with her from beyond the grave. This was the only chance she might ever have to talking with him. And this drove her to keep talking to him.

“Oh Snap.... I’m so sorry...” She took in a few shaky breaths, trying to keep herself as calm as possible. “B-But, you have to remember.... Rudy was the one who failed to save you. H-He is more to b....”

“It wasn’t Rudy’s fault and you know it. You only blame him because you don’t want to feel the pain of responsibility.” ‘Snap’ said to her, the water rippling to form a deeper glare.

Penny took in a few heavy pants as she listened to these words. They echoed in her head, causing her body to tremble harder. She could feel this words sinking in, and despite a part of her understanding their meaning, she just..didn’t want to fully accept it. She started to shake her head almost violently from side to side as she tried to desperately hold onto her mental state.

In desperation, she called out, “But he should have known how to save you! He should have known that if he had just drawn that fucking milk carton, he could have saved you!”

“But you didn’t give him enough time.” ‘Snap’ accused her, his voice gaining a bit of a venomy edge to it. “You didn’t even know if he knew the answer or not. You just expected him to. You took the gamble and look at where it’s gotten you.”

“N-No... No, it’s not...” Penny said, trembling hard as her eyes started to burn a little with tears. “I-I only wanted to make sure that Skrawl didn’t get the... A-And I needed a c-c-convincing performance and....”

‘Snap’ said, “And you succeeded in that. Congratulations...traitor.”

Penny’s eyes widened in horror at this statement. She could feel a sharp sting in her chest. Her hand clutched at it, her fingers pressing into it tightly. She felt her heart pounding loudly in her chest, nearly managing to break through. Everything around her seemed to spin rapidly and she felt increasingly ill. It was like something had crawled into her head and was starting to pound against it as if it were just a drum.

She tried to keep herself calm. But she felt as if she was being pulled in by something. She felt the walls around her starting to close in as she stared at the distorted blue water in her cup. She felt her hands getting so sweaty and shaky that it was a miracle that it hadn’t dropped yet. She took in rapid breaths and it took ages for her to find her voice again.

“It was Rudy’s fault for not saving you! I-I lost you because he was too slow! He is the one who left the portal open so that Skrawl could get me! If he had just helped me to start with, none of this would have happened! You should know that, Snap!” Penny shouted. Her voice had gotten shrill from the amount of desperation that clung to its tone. She panted a few more times before she continued. “R-Rudy is the real traitor! N-Not me!”

‘Snap’ seemed to shake his head despite just being a puddle of water. Then he looked up at her and glared more deeply, so sharply that she thought she was literally being stabbed with his eyes. “It was your fault, Penny. It’s always been your fault and you know it. Quit denying it.”

Penny felt her head shaking again. “Th-That’s not...”

“It’s amazing that the so-called Chalk Queen can’t take responsibility for her own actions. Feh....some queen you are.” His voice was filled with bitterness. “You were the one who set up that risky plan. You were the one who chose to tie me up above that acid, despite knowing how dangerous that it was. And you were the one who started to lower me down into it, causing Rudy to panic and causing me to die.”

Penny’s breathing grew ragged, sweat dripping down from her face. She swallowed hard, her wide, horrified eyes looking right at ‘Snap’. She tried to think of a reply to say, but this time, she was just silent.

Which ‘Snap’ took advantage of.

“You’re the only one to blame here, Penny. You could have stopped this from happening if you had just thought of a better way to handle Skrawl. But now you messed up big time and all you can do is wallow in your own self pity and constantly blame Rudy so you feel a little better about yourself.”

Penny shook her head in denial. “None of that is true! None of it!”

‘Snap’ sneered at her. “Face it, Penny. You betrayed us, betrayed ChalkZone, and you lost me, and now you’re going to lose Rudy.” The water seemed to start rumbling more, becoming warped more and more until it looked almost terrifying. “And it’s all your fault!”

Penny finally couldn’t take it any longer. She gripped the cup tightly and she threw it against the window of her bathroom as hard as she could. She let out a loud yell as she did so. The cup crashed up against the mirror and managed to crack it, creating creases all over the mirror itself. This distorted her reflection and caused her to look unrecognizable when she peered at it. In fact, if there was one thing that it made her look like, it was a...

....a monster...

Penny’s legs quivered and she felt herself dropping into the ground slowly, sliding as if on ice. She looked at the ground with her mouth agape as she struggled to breathe. She realized that none of that really happened, that Snap’s voice was never there, but that didn’t stop the horror of it all. She looked down at her hands and she could see how they shook and trembled. She sucked in a sharp breath as hot tears pooled down her cheeks. She wiped the tears from her eyes and she wrapped her hands around her knees, pulling them up against her chest. Resting her head on her knees, she started to cry softly.

She didn’t know how long that she was in this position. The only thing that she knew is that her legs felt pretty stiff and sore when she suddenly heard something ringing from her living room. Her sluggish mind took a moment to realize that it was her cellphone. She struggled to pick herself up from the ground, having to use the wall and door and whatever else to keep herself from falling down. She then started to walk stiffly over into the living room. She wiped her tears and sniffled loudly before she reached down to pick it up.

“H-Hello...?” Penny managed to say. She flinched at how her voice sounded.

“Penita...? Is there something wrong? You don’t sound so good.”

Penny paused for a moment as she tried to think of something to tell her mother. “I-I...” She bit her lip firmly, taking a few moments to look around her small living room, as though staring at the blank walls and dark-colored ceiling fans were going to help her figure out what to say. Eventually, she quickly said, “I’m fine. It was just a....a bad dream is all.”

“Are you sure? I could come over if you want. I...”

“No!” Penny shouted quickly. Then she stopped herself and cleared her throat. She spoke a bit more gently this time. “I mean...no, it’s fine. Everything’s fine. I just need some rest, that’s all.” Penny moved her fingers through her hair and gave a weak chuckle. “I have been staying up late.”

“I would have thought that you would have less to stress out from in regards to an online job. But I suppose the mental work is still taxing.”

Penny didn’t know why she nodded at this, but she did. “Yeah... It is...”

“Well, if you say that you’re okay....” There was a bit of a pause. It was clear that her mom did not really believe her words. But she had also learned to know when to quit. So instead, there was a heavy sigh and then she could hear her mom speaking again. “Well the reason that I’m calling is because I was wondering if you wanted to come with me this weekend to this animal exhibit. I...I know you haven’t really done as much with that old interest of yours as you used to. But I thought it would be a fun thing we could do together. You know, for old time’s sake.”

Penny could hear the desperation and emotion in her mother’s voice. She knew exactly what was going on here. She realized that her mother just wanted to spend time with her, something that’s gotten increasingly rare over the years. There was a bit of a pang of guilt regarding this. But Penny did have her reasons. If her mom snooped around too much, she might figure out what was up around here. She couldn’t risk her mom finding out what she was doing. She would just...

Penny shook her head once more and she manage to respond back. Her tongue moved so quickly that it seemed to constantly trip over itself. “I’m sorry, mama, but I am going to have to decline that offer. I have something I need to get done this weekend, so maybe next time.”

Her mother sounded so disappointed. “But Penita, you always say that. Can’t you just once let go of your work to spend time with your own mother?”

The young woman couldn’t bring herself to respond just yet.

Her mother pressed on, “Please, I don’t want to have to beg... I just want...”

“I said ‘no’! Just leave me alone!” Penny shouted before suddenly hanging up on her mother. She took in a few deep breaths before it dawned on her just what she did. She widened her eyes and she shut them tightly, releasing a small, quieted whimper.

Just what was happening to her?

Why had she done that?

How could she have just shut her mother out like that?

How could...

Penny brushed herself off, putting her phone back on the table. She had turned it off so that she wouldn’t have to bother listening to her mom’s repeated attempts to call her. She ignored the guilt that gnawed away at her stomach and she headed back towards the bathroom. She needed to finish up getting ready for bed. After all....

Her ‘special day’ was coming up. That time of the week...

She felt herself start to smile, though it felt forced, as though her muscles were too worn out to do it properly. But she knew that she would feel better once the ‘special day’ started. It would be within less than twelve hours. It might not be the most relaxed and restful time, but it was the perfect time for her to unleash her emotions all in one go. A sort of ‘purge’ that would cleanse herself, and help her recharge for the week.

But of course...

Rudy wasn’t going to like it.

sss

It wasn’t difficult for Rudy to tell what was going to happen. And that was the very reason that he was cowering in his cage. He kept himself pressed low, releasing a series of small whimpers. He knew that it was useless. He knew that she was just going to do it anyway. But it still didn’t stop him from at least trying to change her mind.

But why would Penny change her mind? The ‘Chalk Queen’ loved doing this. The times never changed. The schedule was always the same. Every week, he had to go through this.

And there was nothing that he could do about it.

Rudy watched, swallowing hard, as Penny approached his cage. Somehow, she looked more sultry and shiny than usual, despite wearing the same thing. The sight of her bright red dress moving closer towards him, a very noticeable color even from the corner of his eyes, was enough to make him tremble. Penny hadn’t even touched him yet, but he already knew what was about to come. Rudy curled himself up into a small ball, just wanting this to all be over.

Penny chortled at him, as though amused by the sight of him being so afraid. Rudy would have tried to beg with her, but that wouldn’t really work. That just seemed to excite her further, the sick, twisted... He couldn’t finish his sentence. Penny had already arrived at his cage and she was already inside.

Rudy shut his eyes tightly and turned his head away. He could feel her hand patted down on him, stroking his hair. Rudy could feel a dull pain in his leg as he recalled how she had stomped on it the other day, or however long ago it was. He instinctively pulled his leg away from her, trying to keep it safe. This act appeared to amuse Penny as she released another small chuckle, sounding a bit more light than before.

“Oh Rudy, do you still think I’m going to attack you again?” Penny reached down and cupped his chin lightly, tilting it up. Rudy’s pupils moved down, unable to look at her directly. “You should know that I don’t like hurting you like that. You’ve only got yourself to blame. You did wrongfully accuse me, you know.”

Rudy gritted his teeth nervously. “I-I still said I was sorry.”

Penny paused at this for a moment. Then she nodded her head. “That you did. But I still needed to make sure that you didn’t try something like that again. I had no choice.” She ran her hand along the back of Rudy’s head, scratching the back of his neck gently. “I hope we can avoid such a mess during our stay together. And don’t act like this is a nightmare for you. I know you enjoy it to some extent, even if you act like it’s horrible.”

Rudy opened his mouth to speak, but he stopped himself. He didn’t want to accidentally make this worse for himself. He turned his head away. He didn’t attempt to fight back against the scratching. He couldn’t deny that it felt kind of....good, but he struggled not to show that.

But Penny must have known that he liked it because he could feel her scratching her fingernails along the back of his neck’s skin longer and more deliberate. He hated that he enjoyed this; he wasn’t some kind of a pet. But he couldn’t control his body’s reaction to the gesture. And he certainly couldn’t stop his small sigh of contentment from escaping his lips. By the time he realized what he did, it was already too late.

Penny chuckled at this. “See? You like this. So it won’t be that bad. So stop your shaking and your crying, my dear little chalk boy. You’ll get to have me for nonstop company for the next twenty-four hours.”

Rudy tried not to throw up when she said this, trying his best to push back the fear that burned in the pit of his stomach. It wasn’t that she actually hurt him during these... ‘sessions’ of hers, but that didn’t make them any better. He never knew how to really feel about this and he just... A part of him almost wished that she would just leave him alone during this time.

But he also hated to be alone...

And Penny was the only company he ever had all these years. Everyone else thought he was dead.

Rudy felt his mind abuzz with many thoughts, conflicting and striking against each other. He didn’t know how to fully grasp this situation. He felt his body at war with itself. Half of it wanted to get away from Penny, knowing what she had done to him and what she will continue to do to him. The other half just yearned for some kind of attention. Whenever Penny did treat him well, a part of him felt fulfilled, almost happy in a way. It was such an odd conflict and he wondered if Penny planned on it on purpose.

He nearly jolted when he could feel Penny’s lips pressing up against his own. The sudden action, unexpected, caused Rudy to immediately pull back instinctively. He stared up at her with wide eyes. This hadn’t been the first time she’s kissed him, but he was never prepared for when she did to it.

Penny narrowed her eyes at him. “Why did you pull away from me? You know you are not supposed to do that.”

“I...I’m sorry, Pen.... I mean, Chalk Queen.” Rudy quickly caught himself as he apologized. He kept his head low, trying to make himself look as defenseless and small as possible.

Penny’s expression softened up slightly. “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again, understand, Rudy?”

“Yes, Chalk Queen.” Rudy said as his eyes closed, surrendering to Penny. What other choice did he have? He...He didn’t want to get hurt again... He shuddered with icy cold as his brain oh so generously reminded him of the last time he had angered Penny...

Penny’s mouth curled up into a small smile. “I am glad to hear that. So...now...” Her smile turned a bit more....the only word that Rudy could use to describe it was...seductive. Her voice became low and whispery, almost barely audible. “...where were we...?”

Penny pushed Rudy onto his back, towering over him, her hands holding him down, leaning her weight against him. Rudy just laid there, knowing that there was no way out of this. Penny soon placed her hands on either side of him, keeping herself above him in a clear display of dominance. She lowered her head down towards him and Rudy couldn’t bring himself to fight back as Penny forced him into another, longer kiss. She put her hand on the side of his head, lightly caressing his hair, and he could feel his body twisting with conflicting emotions.

And thus began the start of Penny’s long visit.


	5. The Visit

He wasn’t going to stay here. He had little reason to. As soon as he handed off the supplies to Craniac, he was just going to leave. This was a huge waste of time. The Chalk Queen should have been doing this, that lazy little...

He exhaled softly. There was no point in complaining about it right now. He could be as bitter as he wanted to. It wasn’t going to change anything that was going on right now. It wasn’t going to make Penny, the Chalk Queen, whatever, decide to get off her lazy ass and actually do something other than laze around all day. Just what the fuck was she doing on these days, anyway?

Skrawl was going to try to figure this out as soon as possible. It was imperative that he learned of her secrets and keep her from getting so distracted. Once a week was a bit much. Sure, he did have some power surge during these days. But it was going to get to the point where the zoners might try something. They were not stupid. They would take notice that one of the leaders goes missing during this time. What if they planned an uprising on this sort of day? That was the last thing that they needed.

And as much as he would never admit it, Penny was right. He would not be able to handle things too well without her around. It was her power, her ominous presence, that kept the zoners in line for the most part. Like those smilies... He knew that they would not have bowed do him as easily as they had with Penny.

Skrawl tried to keep his attention focused on continuing to head forward. He held the bag of supplies around his shoulder, leaning them against his body. He used his other arm.... He had to stop at that thought, letting it dawn on him that Penny had drawn him an extra limb. It had taken him a while to get used to it. And there were times, despite being years later, where it felt....strange to have four limbs instead of three. He let out a small chuckle at this. That was one of the things this genius girl had been good for. Wasn’t like Master Tabootie would have ever drawn him a new limb.

At that thought, he had to pause for a moment. He felt an unusual sensation in his stomach, his teeth pressing against his lip. He felt a bitterness settling down in his throat and chest. He had a mixture of emotions whenever he thought about his late creator.

On the one hand, he was glad that he was dead. The Chalk Queen said that she had killed him shortly after knocking him out. Skrawl hadn’t been present nor did he see the body. But that was because it was stated that she took him out in the Real World for burial. That also tied in perfectly with how she informed the people there of the boy’s death, which would stop anyone from accidentally stumbling upon ChalkZone as they tried to find it.

But on the other hand, a part of him....did kind of miss Rudy. He still expected to see that buck-toothed idiot whenever he entered ChalkZone. When he did not, he had to take a few moments to realize the truth. He felt a little silly afterwards, but despite that, this would repeatedly happen. He could only try to be extra vigilant.

He hadn’t told the Chalk Queen about these emotions. She probably would laugh at him or ask him why he would miss that boy. The other zoners might take it as a sign of weakness or something that they could use to their own advantage. A clever zoner might be able to figure out a way to use it in order to spread rumors and make Skrawl, King Skrawl, to lose his grip on everything. And that was not something that he could afford happening.

So he most definitely needed to figure out what was going on with Penny. He would have to find a way to follow her carefully, to sort of shadow her to see if she was in ChalkZone or in the Real World during these days. He was hoping that she would be in ChalkZone as this would give him more capabilities of learning just what she was doing. And depending on what she was doing, that would affect how he would have to approach the situation. He could only hope that it wasn’t something too serious, something that he could actually manage without too much trouble, or else, he’d...

“King Skrawl.”

The jellybean zoner immediately jerked himself, nearly tripping and causing himself to spill the items in the bag. He managed to grab onto it quickly before it fell before whirling his head to see who had dare interrupt him. He stopped short of yelling when he saw that it was Craniac himself.

“There you were. Took me a while to find you.” Said Skrawl as he rummaged through the bag. He then had second thoughts and just slung it off his shoulders. He then tossed it towards Craniac, not caring if it hit the robot zoner in the face. “There, now you can fix your stupid leaks.”

Craniac scrambled to hold the bag up, recovering from the impact. He took a moment to look at the bag itself, examining its contents, before looking up at Skrawl and giving him a small nod. “Well, thank you for your contribution, King Skrawl.”

“Yeah, yeah..” Skrawl rolled his eyes at this. It wasn’t that he hated someone submitting to him like that. But he’s heard it way too much from Craniac and he could not help but wonder if it was just sarcasm or not. “Now, if you’ll excuse me..”

“There is something I wanted to ask you first, before you go, King Skrawl.” Craniac spoke up.

Skrawl turned to glare at him. He formed a small fist with his hand and his lip curled up into a small snarl of frustration. “Can’t this wait? Aren’t you supposed to be helping your damned citizens?”

Craniac made a quick motion with his robotic hand. “I’m sure they can wait a few more nanocycles.” He moved in a little closer to the jellybean zoner. “I just have a quick question. I’m sure someone like you wouldn’t take long to answer it.”

“Heheheh....well that is true.” Skrawl smiled at this comment, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he looked upwards a little. This small moment of levity was cut off shortly as he shook his head to bring himself back to attention. He turned to stare at Craniac intently, narrowing his eyes deeply. “Okay then. Just make it quick. I don’t want to waste any further time with you.”

“Understood, sire.” Craniac nodded his head, which looked funny as he had to bend his body with him in a more extreme way than with other zoners that he’s seen. His head and body moved as a single unit. How funny... Craniac seemed to take a moment to look left and right, as though making sure that no one was nearby to hear him, and then he looked over at Skrawl. His robotic voice suddenly sounded much lighter and Skrawl realized that he was whispering. This forced him to move in closer to him just to hear him. “So I noticed that you sounded...a little upset with the Chalk Queen earlier...”

Skrawl blinked at this. “Me? Upset? Whatever gave you that idea?”

“No offense, King Skrawl...” There was a bit of emphasis on his name. “...but I noticed how you were talking to the Chalk Queen earlier, and how you kept glaring at her as she left the room.”

“You were watching?” Skrawl growled.

“It matters not at this point. What I want to ask you is.... just what is going on between you two?” Craniac spread his hands outward, his claw clamping down once or twice, as if to express how he was feeling. “Is she hiding something from you? Her own king?”

Skrawl spluttered at this. He struggled to think of what to say. He couldn’t allow this red robot to find out there was any sort of disconnect between the two of them. Who knows what Craniac might use this information for? He had to keep himself as calm as possible, though it took him several moments before he was even remotely ready to speak. By this point, he had a feeling that Craniac was already working a case against him.

Regardless, he still attempted to mediate the situation.

“Pfff.. You have gone crazy, Craniac!” Skrawl motioned his hand dismissively. He let his teeth bare in a small grin as he raised his hand up in gesture. “I will have you know that I have her neatly and tightly wrapped around my finger.” He demonstrated by twirling his long, sharp claw around and around, almost like he was trying to make a little miniature twister. “She wouldn’t dare do anything without me knowing about it.”

“Uh huh.. I see... Okay, then answer me this question, King Skrawl.” The crimson robot said. His arms wrapped around himself and those LED eyes of his turned into a frown. “If you know her so well, if you know everything that she is doing, then tell me what is so special about today?”

Skrawl felt himself freeze, unable to answer the question. After only a few seconds of silence, the crimson robot continued to talk.

“Why are you looking at me like that, King Skrawl? I thought you said you had her ‘under control.’ I thought that she still served you in a way.” Craniac started to sneer. It was a bit hard to tell with a robot, but Skrawl had spoken to this particular bot long enough to know when he was giving him a dirty smile. “So why can’t you tell me about what she does on these days? She would most certainly tell her own king, right? And she most obviously can’t be doing anything against you, am I correct? She isn’t plotting anything to overthrow you or isn’t doing something terrible behind your back?”

Skrawl felt his mismatched eyes narrowing deeply. He clutched his hands tightly into balls of fists. He could feel his heart thumping in his chest and he could feel the increased temptation of walking up to Craniac and just ripping out his robotic heart.

But then he let himself relax. A small exhale pushed out some of his more tense, negative emotions. He still felt that raw, burning sensation in the pit of his stomach. But he nonetheless regained control of himself. He realized that Craniac was just trying to get him worked up. Probably as a bit of revenge for not helping him earlier. Craniac might be submissive to him and Penny, but it was only Penny that he would completely yield to. He would still take some jabs at Skrawl once in a while, and only because Skrawl couldn’t do too much to him. He still kind of needed him, particularly for his monitoring capabilities.

“Well if that’s all that you have to tell me, then I should be on my w...”

That was when Skrawl gave a sudden pause, his eyes going wide. He remained still for a few seconds, paused in mid pose.

“Sire, is there something going on?” Craniac asked. His sarcasm was gone, replaced with true curiosity.

Skrawl didn’t answer right away. He instead focused on that thought he just had. It was nearly fleeting, but somehow, his brain was able to catch it, his eyes filling up with a sense of realization. He remained standing there for several painfully long ticks of seconds, everything around him going still and almost too dark for him to see, in a sense. All he could do was think about....was how one of Craniac’s biggest contributions was his ability to monitor anything in ChalkZone with relative ease.

Monitoring... That’s what he needed. That was how he could uncover the truth of what the Chalk Queen was doing on her ‘day off of the week’. And she wouldn’t suspect it, either. Craniac knew how to discreetly plant cameras and then he could just wire it so that he could watch it himself from far away and...

It was perfect. But of course it was. Who would expect less from someone capable of producing such beautiful plans? He smiled inwardly at this thought.

Skrawl turned his head to Craniac. His eyelids lowered just slightly as a smirk spread along his lips. “Say Craniac... I do have something I would like for you to do. After you take care of your citizens, of course. Or the Chalk Queen’s or...whatever. That point isn’t important right now. But I do have a mission I’d like to ask of you.” He tapped his claw tips together eagerly. “I will reward you of course.”

Craniac turned his head a little, staring at Skrawl with a small frown. He waited for a moment before he asked, “Does this have anything to do with the Chalk Queen...?”

“Well, you could say that. But I’m merely asking you for a way to...help her improve on her ability to lead. Trust me, she will be most thankful for your help.” Skrawl said as he smiled at the robot zoner.

Craniac still frowned for a bit, rubbing the side of his had with his robotic hand. But he didn’t seem to resist for too long. The next words out of that metal mouth of his was, “I suppose that is true. But just what are you proposing that I do for her?”

Skrawl moved in closer and put his arm around the red robot zoner. He pulled him close to himself, keeping him pressed up against his body. Craniac hardly tried to struggle. The robot zoner just looked up at him nervously, clearly unsure of what to say. Skrawl raised his hand up, giving a small motion to the side, and he said, “Just listen to me, do what I say, and everything will be all right.”

sss

Rudy absolutely hated this.

But he couldn’t speak up against it. Penny would not approve of it. His only option was to just sit here and take it, letting her do whatever she wanted with him. He could feel his body shuddering, despite the fact that she was holding onto him tightly, her body warmth spreading throughout his body. And her face was close to his, touching his forehead. Rudy couldn’t dare to look away from her eyes, his breath fogging up her glasses.

“You are doing such a good job, Rudy.” Penny cooed to him. She pulled him slightly closer, bending forward and causing his back to arch backwards. She used her hand to gently stroke along the top of his head, moving her hand down along his back a little. Rudy flinched at this gesture, but did not say anything. “I’ve always known that you would be good for something.”

Rudy felt his eyes widen at this statement. He could feel a rush of chilled emotion sweeping up inside and he had to fight back against his tears. He understand the sheer implications of what Penny had just told him. Horror descended upon his brain and his body shuddered a little more.

There was nothing that he could do to get out of this situation. Penny was not going to just let him go. He would be forced to endure this for the rest of the day and into the night, whenever that would happen. His only way of knowing the time is when Penny decided it was best to get some sleep. One would think that this would be when he’d get a break. But no, he had to fear the night as well. This was the time of the week that he was never left alone until the start of the next day. Lucky him...

He shivered as he felt Penny caressing his cheek. He turned his head a little away. The hand merely followed. He shut his eyes tightly as he felt that hand moving up and down his cheek. His raw instincts still expected to be hurt with a single slap across the face. It would not be the first time that Penny would do something like that to him.

Rudy gave a muffled gasp when Penny gave him another kiss. With her lips pressed firmly against him, Rudy went completely rigid, his eyes widening big and staring at the blurred image of Penny before him. As he waited for her to pull back, he felt tingly emotions sweeping throughout his body, causing his skin to crawl. He made no effort to struggle. Even a single small jerk would have earned him pain from Penny.

The kiss itself brought about a series of conflicting emotions. He hated to admit this to himself, but he still felt some level of attraction to Penny. She still displayed some of the qualities that he had liked about her before, such as her intellect. To be kissed by her, this is something that he realized he would have eventually wanted anyway. But it was the way that this kiss was brought about that was so conflicting for him. This was a sick, twisted way to go about it, and he had his doubts that this kiss had any true love behind it. Only a means of control.

Soon Penny pulled away from him. No matter how many times that this was done, Rudy still felt a pang of disappointment. Faint, but still there. And Penny could tell that something was going on through his mind. She could read his thoughts, he felt, and that was why she cupped his chin soon after to whisper to him some words.

“I do apologize to have to end that early, my dear. But you know how it is...” Penny had no intentions on elaborating on that, Rudy knew. She just liked to mess around with him a little. He resisted the urge to growl at her. Penny tilted her head to one side slightly. “But you should consider yourself lucky. I never treat anyone else like this. No one else gets to enjoy this. You and you alone are the only one worthy of this.” She leaned in a little closer and her whispers entered his ear. “Aren’t you so lucky that I decided to show mercy on you..”

Rudy gritted his teeth tightly. When he spoke, he couldn’t help but release a small whine in the process. “Y-Yes... You have been the most merciful.” He swallowed hard and lowered his head in submission. “Th-Thank you...f-for choosing to be u-u-understanding with me...”

Penny smiled at this. “You are welcome.” She kept herself close to him, her hands gently caressing his shoulder and head. She didn’t seem to give much of a reaction to how he was shaking in fear. “You are lucky that ‘King Skrawl’ doesn’t know about this. Why...he’d have your head, for sure!” She leaned in closer and gave Rudy a gentle nuzzle, eliciting another whimper from the young man. “But don’t worry. I wouldn’t let him take you away from me.”

Rudy really didn’t know if this was a good thing or a bad thing. He never thought that he would ever feel confliction on whether or not he would rather face Skrawl or endure his time with Penny. About one of the few things he didn’t mind about Penny’s ‘day long weekly visits’ is that this was the only time that he knew for certain that she would not make him lay on her lap like a fucking dog.

Not that it made things much better.

Penny soon adjusted herself. She moved along behind him. He could feel her pressing herself against him, his back filling with her body warmth. Her arms slung around him snugly. There was no tightness, and yet Rudy still felt compelled to just hold still. Then her chin rested on his shoulders and he could feel her breath hitting against his face when she started to speak to him.

“Would you like me to tell you a little story?”

Rudy widened his eyes at this as his teeth clenched tightly. Oh no...

Penny chortled at this. “Well, let me tell you something. It all started with a little boy who...”

sss

“And then he collapsed into the ground, and he would have to live in forever in guilt on what he had done.” Penny said as she started to finish up her story. With her hand moving along the top of Rudy’s head, she spoke in a whisper. “But thankfully, his ‘friend’ was merciful and allowed him to live...quite comfortably, I might ask. And that’s where he ended up staying for the rest of his life.” She leaned in and gave Rudy a quick kiss on his forehead. “There, that wasn’t so bad, now was it?”

Rudy just looked up at her with a mixed expression upon his face. He took in a few shaky breaths, licking his lips slowly. Then he managed to choke out, “Y-You always....t-t-tell that story to...to remind me of....what happened.” He swallowed hard. “Y-You can’t just...”

“Why make you forget it? You need to know that you screwed up, and you need to understand that you’ve gotten a better position here than you deserve.” Penny narrowed her eyes slowly. She was able to keep her emotions in check. She hoped that Rudy didn’t attempt to go against her again like he had before. She wouldn’t want to actually kill him. After all, how can he pay for his crimes if he were dead? “You know that I can easily take all that away from you, and then you will be begging me to be merciful to you once more.”

Rudy gave a small scoff, but that’s as far as he had gone. He turned his head away from her, as though to try to ignore her. Penny narrowed her eyes at this and grabbed onto his hair. She twisted his head to make him look at her, causing him to yelp in the process. Penny looked at him right in the eyes, putting so little distance between the two of them.

“Don’t ignore me. You’re my guest of honor.” Her voice was a little laced in something when she said that. She continued, “You should be thrilled that I take time out of my life to spend with you for a full day.” She then started to smile. “You love my attention, don’t you?”

“I-I...” Rudy started to say. He wasn’t able to continue.

Penny reached over to caress his cheek gently. “I know that you like it when I pet you, stroke you nicely. I know you love it on some level when I visit you. It’s because, deep down, you don’t want to be alone and I am your only company.” Penny teased him. She gently scratched the young man’s chin, watching as he squirmed under her touch. “You belong to me now, Rudy.” She moved her head in close to whisper into his ear. “You are mine.”

Rudy twisted himself away from Penny, trying to look away from her. He moved his bad leg a little in an effort to struggle, only for pain to shoot through his leg, causing him to cry out and stop moving the leg entirely. He took in a few shuddering breaths before looking up at Penny, silently pleading with her. But Penny just smiled at him, enjoying his reaction.

This was her primary way of venting, of purging her emotions. Well one of them, at least. The other had not happened yet. She would be saving that for last.

She wasn’t sure when she thought of doing this with Rudy. She wasn’t sure what inspired it. But she was glad that she did figure it out and start doing it. She felt as if part of her sanity came back after this was all said and done. It helped cement in her mind that Rudy was to blame and not her. It helped further control Rudy so that he wouldn’t be as likely to fight back. And it helped her return to her duties as queen. It all worked out in the end.

Of course, Skrawl still complained that she ‘wasn’t doing enough as queen’. She tried not to roll her eyes at this comment. He was doing enough as it is. Was it really necessary for her to give ruling governance every second of the day? Especially when ‘King Skrawl’ had it covered? As far as she was concerned, there was little reason to be so worried. But that was Skrawl for you. Always such the dramatic.

“H-How long....?”

“Hrm?” Asked Penny as she tilted her head down to look at Rudy. She stared at him expectantly, waiting for him to speak up. Not that she needed to hear him talk to know what he was going to say. The same thing as usual.

As if on time, Rudy said, “How long are you going to keep doing this to me? I-It’s been....”

“Oh Rudy, you’re so silly. You know that this tradition can’t be changed. It’s already been decreed. And it’s good for you, too. Not just me.” Penny replied.

Rudy stared up at her with widened eyes. “How is it good for me? All you do is...” He trailed off, as if too afraid to really speak what else happens during these days.

Penny smiled down at him, giving a soft chortle. “If you can’t see the good this is doing for you, then that is your problem, not mine.” Penny put her hand against his cheek, leaning in closer. She was certain that Rudy was feeling her breath hitting his face. “You also should not need to worry about such silly things when I’m sure you’re tired. I can see it in your eyes. I can see that you are longing for rest.”

Rudy leaned away from her, turning his head to the side. “I-I am fine... Really...”

Penny shook her head from side to side. “You shouldn’t try to lie to me. That is such a naughty thing to do.” Penny could feel a surge of emotion and adrenaline coming about her. She could feel her body starting to shake, getting pumped up for something. It took all of her strength not to pounce on Rudy right now, to give him what he deserved. Penny spoke in a carefully controlled voice. “I think it’s about time that we get started on the next thing. You could use a bit of time out of this dreadful cage, don’t you think?”

Rudy’s eyes widened and he started to move back from her again. This time, Penny released him and let him go. She could use a bit of time to laugh as Rudy tried so desperately to get away. Even after all this time, even after she had done this with him repeatedly, he still attempted to fight to get away from her. It was as if he couldn’t help it, that something was compelling him to start running off into the distance.

But of course, it wasn’t like he was going to get that far. All that he managed to do was just keep tugging on his chain. He pulled at it with his hands, using his good leg to try to kick it over his head or snap the chains. There was little that could be done, little that Rudy could do to get away. It didn’t matter how hard that he tugged on that metal chain around his neck. He was not going anywhere.

And it would seem that he started to realize this. Not for the first time, but he still reacted with just as much fear and horror as he always did when he realized that he could not stop Penny from doing what she wanted to with him. Penny thought this was a pretty amusing thing to watch, Rudy squirming around like a helpless little fowl. Was this what Skrawl felt during that time when he had managed to trap Rudy in that to-be-sinking museum? She imagined that it was, and she could feel a sense of power tingling throughout her body and emanating from her fingertips.

How wonderful...

Penny decided that she had waited long enough for this. She got up from the ground and casually walked over towards Rudy. Her little prisoner looked up at her and let out a cry of fear. He shook his head adamantly and he attempted to pull on his chains again.

“No more of that.” Penny commanded as she stepped on the chain. This caused Rudy to be yanked to the ground from the sheer force of the impact. “You’re just making a fool out of yourself.”

Rudy still spent a few moments struggling and pulling at the chain. It was getting to the point where, if she didn’t stop him, he was going to hurt himself. So Penny did the first thing that came into her mind.

She bent down and gripped his bad leg, her fingers pressing against the skin.

“Aaaaah!” Rudy screamed in agony. He pushed himself against the ground and twisted about, releasing a series of pained, pitiful cries.

Penny just scoffed at this, turning her gaze slightly upwards. “Oh come on, Rudy. I’m not even grabbing you that hard.” She loosened her grip a little. She only did so enough that Rudy would stop struggling so much on the ground. But she still ensured that she had a good enough grip that Rudy could not dare try to get away. “I wouldn’t have to do this if you didn’t try to be so stubborn. You know this always happens. So why fight it?”

Rudy’s eyes gazed up upon her. He looked so desperate. She could see the tears forming in his eyes. “Please... Chalk Queen... I beg of you... Not a-again...” He lowered his head as he trembled hard. “I-I don’t know if I can....”

Penny softened her expression slightly. She removed her hand from his leg completely and used that same hand to cup his chin, tilting it up slightly. She looked into his eyes, her seemingly light expression still thriving with many emotions. “This cannot be changed. But...if you be a good little boy and do what I say...” She leaned her head in slightly closer. “...then I promise that I will make it quicker.” She kissed his forehead. “Got a deal?”

Rudy didn’t look very happy with this. It was clear that he wanted her to forego it entirely. But he also seemed to understand that Penny was not about to let that happen. He just lowered his head, doing nothing to stop his trembling body or the choked sobs that were forced out of his throat. He sniffled loudly as he reopened his eyes and stared up at her. He seemed to realize that there was no other option for him, and so he just dipped his head in submission.

Penny smirked at this. There was no need for Rudy to say anything. She understood exactly what this gesture meant. And she did not hesitate to give her reaction.

“Yes, that’s right, Rudy. Give into me... You know that’s what is good for you.” Penny said. Her voice was gentle and soft, yet it still made Rudy flinch. Her voice’s tone rang heavily with intent and Rudy could clearly pick up on that. “But first, let me get this off of you, to make you more....comfortable.”

Penny grabbed onto the shackle around Rudy’s neck. She used a small key to unlock the tiny hole in it, allowing the cuffs to break open completely. This allowed her to slip it off quickly yet carefully from his neck. She allowed it to drop into the ground.

As a result of having his neck suddenly free, Rudy’s hand shot to that spot and gently rubbed it. He appeared to grab his own throat a few times, as though he found it hard to believe that it was off of him. He then looked up at her expectantly, waiting for her to take her next step.

Which Penny was more than happy to oblige to.

“Come on, Rudy. Let’s get this over with.” Penny moved in closer, carefully balancing herself as she bent down onto one knee. She reached in closer and grabbed onto Rudy. There was very little struggle as she lifted him up from the ground and cradled him like he was still a little child. It was almost eerie even to her just how easy it was for her to carry him. “And then sadly, I will be forced to leave you again. But don’t worry; you know I visit you often either way.”

This caused her personal prisoner to emit a whine of fear. Penny ignored him and started to carry him out of the cage.

sss

It was difficult to tell whether or not this was a joke or if this was serious. And that was saying something, considering this world had so much weirdness to it in general. This shouldn’t come as any surprise.

And yet that didn’t stop the jellybean zoner from feeling a level of skepticism when shown this moving camera attacked to what looked like a pathetic creature. Broken and wobbly and with steam pillowing out of its body, there was no way that this was going to do. There was no way that this could be useful for anything stealth related at all. Just who was Craniac thinking that he was going to fool?

“I know it doesn’t look like much.” Craniac said, as though reading his thoughts. “But that’s the best prebuilt camera that I have. I’m sure the Chalk Queen would find some use out of it.”

Skrawl let out a small sigh. He rubbed his forehead a little as he attempted to keep himself chill. This was going to require a bit more than just asking, wasn’t it? He could not just tell Craniac to create a stealth robot to help him spy on the Chalk Queen. He didn’t think that he would take too well to that, or at the very least, it would confirm to the robot that Skrawl thought that something was being hidden from him.

And then after that, what would he do? Skrawl didn’t know what the crimson robot zoner had in mind. So he did his best to tread on this carefully. So long as Craniac thought that this was a ‘gift’ to Penny, then that should be good enough to convince the robot to make what he wanted. That is, if he could convince Craniac to do it, since he...

“It is best if I do not expend any further resources.” Craniac stated. “I still have more pipes to attend to. This is the fastest way that you’re going to get any cameras out of me. I hope that the Chalk Queen is still pleased.”

Skrawl shook his head slowly. “I don’t think this will be good enough.”

“And why not?” Craniac motioned his hand upwards. “She can still just make improvements on her own. She’s got the chalk, right?”

“Well yes, but...” Skrawl attempted to say. But he was quickly cut off by a piercing question.

“Or are you going to tell me that I was right? That there is something going on between you two that you aren’t willing to tell me? Is there some upset in the ‘kingdom’ after all?”

Skrawl growled at this, gritting his teeth tightly. He let out a small snort and took a small step back. He was not going to allow this zoner to get the better of him. He was not going to let him shake him up like that. He licked his lips once before he raised his hand up slightly, letting his claws flex a little.

“Just create me a better moving camera than this. The Chalk Queen simply won’t settle for something like this.” He motioned his hand towards the wobbling robotic camera. “That thing won’t last for more than two hours, I’d suspect. So just...”

“...let the Chalk Queen take care of it, like I said. There’s no reason why you can’t ask her to repair it.” Craniac gave pause. Then he looked up at Skrawl, giving a look of suspicion. “Unless there is a reason why you can’t talk to her about it. Like... I don’t know...” The robot spent a few moments rubbing the side of his glass dome head. Then he motioned quickly to Skrawl, his voice gaining a slightly accusatory tone. “Perhaps you are wanting to spy on her because you do think that she’s hiding something from you.”

Skrawl snapped his head back and snarled. “Regardless if that is true or not, it’s none of your business!” He moved in a little closer, his growls rumbling through his throat. He felt himself grow increasingly shaky. “And regardless of my reasons, you are obliged to do what I say, your king.” He pointed to himself. “And if I tell you to do something, you do it.” He pointed his sharp claw at him and said, “I would have hoped that you’d come to understand that by now.”

Skrawl tried to sound as authoritative as he could. But in the end, it didn’t seem to matter how much that he tried. It was unlikely that Craniac was really going to be listening to him. He seemed to be off in his own world, in his own thoughts. Considering how he was looking at him...

Craniac slowly smiled at him. It was a smug smile, despite how robotic that it was. Skrawl could just feel the arrogance wavering off through Craniac’s metallic form, and yet he could do nothing about it without confirming Craniac’s suspicions. He realized that, at this point, there was nothing that he could do to stop Craniac from forming his own beliefs about the situation. Nor could he stop the zoner from becoming increasingly smirky about the whole thing.

Craniac slowly nodded his head. He turned his head to one side, making a quick, backwards gesture with his hand. “You want a better robot? Well okay, I can deliver that for you...” He paused for a moment before looking over his shoulder. “...under one condition.”

Sighing and releasing a small grumble, Skrawl said, “Okay, what is it that you want?”

Craniac stared at him intently, showing no wavering of his voice and no hesitation as he spoke, “I want full control of the Future Dome back in my claws. I do not want the Chalk Queen to be able to dictate how I run things nor are my citizens hers. You promise me to convince her to change those ‘terms and agreements’ of hers, and I will make you a camera that will help you spy on the queen herself.”

“S-Spy...?” Skrawl spluttered. “Where did you get that idea? I-I told you that...”

Craniac sneered at him, “Oh come now, King Skrawl. Don’t think that I had not noticed.” He leaned himself slightly in one direction. “Why else would you go through all of this trouble? Why else would you be this desperate? Why else would you act so...”

Frustrated, Skrawl called out to him, “Will you just get started already?!” He took a few huffs, glaring at the robotic zoner. Every inch of him was clamoring to slap the zoner before him. But he surprisingly was able to keep himself still and in place. He knew that it would have been quite the mistake if he attempted to do anything like that.

Craniac just continued to smile slyly at this. He did at least stop pestering him about the whole thing, but that wasn’t too much better. That look in his eyes... “Well, all right then...” Craniac turned his back to Skrawl and started to wheel himself away. “Let me see what I can find for you.”

Skrawl watched Craniac move away from him. He curled his fingers against his palms, feeling his body shake. He might have to do something about Craniac eventually. He felt his teeth grind as he thought of the ways that this stupid zoner might ruin things for him. But in the meantime, he did still require his assistance. So he would let Craniac alone....for now.

And besides, his attention had a different, more important focus right now.

He turned his head a little, staring towards where the castle was. He narrowed his eyes slowly, his mind running through many thoughts. He couldn’t help but wonder one thing.

Was Penny...the Chalk Queen.. really plotting something against him...? And if that truly was the case, well then...

...he would just going to have to take action first, before she did.

sss

Rudy’s eyes fluttered open and he was greeted with a rather familiar sight. He still felt a jolt whenever he found himself in this position. But he was growing accustomed to it and his reactions a bit subdued each time. That didn’t make it that much easier to deal with this, however, and he often felt himself wanting to tear away. He wasn’t in any sort of pain. At least, not physically...

Rudy was on the bed, the warm blankets a sharp contrast to the cold, hard, unforgiving floor that he normally had to sleep on. In front of him, he could see that Penny was huddling up against him, or she pulled him towards her. He wasn’t sure which or if it was both. All he knew is that her sturdy, strong arms were keeping him from wriggling away from her. He could try to struggle, but it would just wake her up, and she might end up punishing him for not doing as he was told.

And she wanted him to stay with her for the night.

This hadn’t been the first time. Most of the time, while there were exceptions, at the end of her day with him, she would want Rudy to join her to sleep. She claimed that it was a reward for him ‘being such a good boy’ about things and that he should appreciate it. He would get to sleep in a soft, comfy bed instead of the ground. Rudy would be lying if he said that he didn’t enjoy this to some extent.

Yet it also terrified him. He was forced to being this close with Penny all night and he had no idea how long things would stay this way. He felt vulnerable like this, as though any move could get him into trouble. He did his best to be careful not to do anything to upset Penny, even if she were asleep at the time.

He looked down at Penny, who was practically curled up against him, one of her legs pressed against him, holding him, to make sure that he didn’t try to get away. He could feel her breath hitting against him as her face was nearly against his chest. Her hair tickled his chin and he resisted the urge to scratch it. He had a difficult time turning his head away from her, as though he feared that she was going to wake up at any moment to... He tried not to think about it too much.

When Penny adjusted herself, her hand looping even more over him, pulling him even closer than before, Rudy felt his heart pounding and he nearly freaked out, the touch giving him a mixture of emotions. He looked at her with wide eyes, waiting to see what she was about to do. He was soon able to tell that he was just getting worked up over nothing. Of course Penny wasn’t going to do anything right now. She was asleep.

He watched her carefully, seeing how she drew in and out each breath slowly. He felt a little....different about her during these times. Seeing her sleeping like this, she almost seemed...normal. Like she had gone back to how things used to be, how she herself used to be like. He sometimes would forget that she was the Chalk Queen at this point, and he would see her like he used to, as his friend.

Only...there was something a bit more to it than that. He could feel it tingling in his stomach, filling up inside. He couldn’t just dismiss it; it would happen almost every time during these sessions, during when Penny wanted to let him sleep in bed with her. Regardless of the intentions, Rudy would still feel the same way each time. It was enough that he still felt drawn to her. There were still things he admired about her. He’d tell himself this repeatedly. Most of the time, it was to remind him that there still must be some traces of the old Penny left despite what’s happened.

But there was another reason for it.

Then Rudy did something that he hadn’t meant to do. It just sort of happened. His body went into an automated state and his muscles and tendons were acting accordingly. He never done this before, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop.

He kissed Penny on the forehead.

The realization of this caused his mind to nearly shatter and reel back. He leaned away slightly, his breathing increasing slightly. He tried to think of why he would do such a thing. Adrenaline started to rush through his body...

....but then he realized. He let his body go limp and as he stared at Penny, his former friend, he felt his emotions seeping out, growing relaxed. He didn’t know what brought this on. All that he knew was that he couldn’t help but lean in towards Penny and rest up against her more snuggly. He pushed his head up against hers and he felt his arm slinging around her.

This was not a surrender nor did he truly believe that Penny would change how she was treating him. But in the midst of all that he had gone through, did he not deserve a tranquil, truly fearless break? And could he really help it if he did still have some sort of attraction to her despite how atrocious she treated him?

Penny was right.

Being trapped here with only her as company really did have some implications of how he felt.

Rudy tried to brush aside the thought and relax. He would still remain on edge for the rest of the night. But this was the one time that he felt that he could get close to Penny himself, initiating on his own, without risking getting hurt. He might as well take advantage of it, regardless of what anyone else might think should they find out. But...no one was going to know about this, right...? So why worry?

Rudy followed this thought up with pressing his chin a bit more firmly against the top of Penny’s head. He could feel her stirring a little before settling down. Then his eyes closed softly, returning himself to the land of sleep once more.


	6. Puppet Tears

Well it was finally over. A part of Penny was going to keep feeling disappointed. But she did have her ‘tradition’ to uphold and it was only supposed to be for twenty-four hours once a week. Now that it was over, she had to return to her normal duties.

But there was always next week.

Penny felt refreshed, like she always did after every session with Rudy. She could feel herself smiling, energy rushing through her body as she took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She put her hands on her hips, continuing to smile, no matter how much her facial muscles were starting to ache. She felt ready to take on whatever task would come up. She didn’t know what she was going to do right now. But that mattered not; there was always something.

She pushed aside any thought that she had regarding Rudy and did her best to shift her attention back to her duties as queen. She wondered where King Skrawl might be. She imagined that he would have something for her. Or she could just check the monitors that Craniac had installed for them. Yeah, she would do that. She did need to make sure that there weren’t any other uprisings going on right now.

As she walked forward, she walked passed the corridor that contained the prisoners. She ignored the small cries that she heard, and the shouts of anger. They were most likely from the smiley zoners that she had recently taken there. Skrawl seemed to have decided to still keep them alive after all. She had to wonder what else he had planned for them, or was he just going to keep them locked up? And she also wondered if those rebellious smilies realized their folly, or if they were going to keep struggling to fight back. Were they going to spark even more zoners to try to strike at the rulers of ChalkZone? Herself?

Penny furrowed her eyes at this thought. It had been a disturbing trend lately, which was not something she was willing to admit to herself or to Skrawl. The thought of it made her shudder on the inside. She feared what could happen if the zoners managed to tear down what she and Skrawl, well mostly her, worked so hard to achieve. She didn’t want this to be all for nothing.

Didn’t those zoners realize that she was trying to help them? She just wanted to make sure that this world stayed prosperous. Sure she was asserting an increasingly large amount of control on them. But that was because she, unlike Rudy, actually cared about them and wanted to make sure that they did not fall under any sort of trap or danger or whatever else. She wanted to make sure that the zoners stayed safe. Trying to fight back like this, it was just spitting in the face of all her hard work.

Sadly, there was often times no other way to deal with this except through being rather harsh and strict. The zoners were still screaming at her even as she walked away. She could not pretend not to hear some of the things that they said. Even though she knew that they were just misguided, the words still made some impact in her.

“You traitor! Go and thrust yourself off of a building!”

“You destroyed the Great Creator and now we are going to destroy you!”

“Bide your time all you want to! It ain’t going to help!”

Penny flinched a little at the tone that was given to her in those words. She refused to pause, however, and she continued to push herself forward. She took in a slow, deep breath and exhaled slowly. It was the only way for her to ensure that she stayed sane during all of this. The zoners could not do anything while they were locked up. She had nothing to worry about.

It hadn’t taken her long to reach the security room. She paused to take a moment to look around. A part of her didn’t know why she did that, considering that the Beanie Boys were hardly ever around and Skrawl would not really be here, anyway. She sighed and she entered the room.

It was shaped like, ironically, a jellybean. Curving inward and looking rather thick and wide. The room itself had a bit of a slant at the top and this connected to the single large monitor screen. And this was divided up into small squares that showed different areas of ChalkZone. Penny furrowed her eyes a little as she approached, the various lights from the monitors reflecting off of her face. She pulled a chair up and she sat down, staring up at the various sections to see what was going on.

She had to move herself along the stretched out monitor, holding onto the desk before her to get this performed. From side to side slowly, she want, looking all around to see what was going on. She licked her lips slowly, pressing her teeth into her tongue nervously. She half expected to see another riot forming but....everything seemed to check out just fine. Nothing worse than the usual banter, which she could handle.

Hmm..perhaps there wasn’t anything to worry about after all. Perhaps the uprisings were starting to slow down. Perhaps with her previous threat and dealings with the smilies, the other zoners had begun to slow down. Perhaps...

But what was this? Her eyes rested upon something else. One of the monitors, depicting what looked to be a tiny zoner, humanoid in style, moving along through a group of law enforcers. Penny watched carefully to see what was going on. It was hard to tell everything on such a small monitor, but she thought for sure that she could see the zoner grabbing something from one of the law enforcers and...

Her eyes widened. The zoner was Howdy, and he was dragging away what looked to be a set of keys. Was he going to try to free some of the rebels here?

It was going to feel strange going up against a zoner that she personally knew on a deeper level. She had been there when Rudy was with Howdy and she had gotten to know him and was even devastated when she thought that he had been erased forever. And now she was going to be forced to confront him and.... She was not entirely sure how she felt about that. The idea was...uncomfortable, to say the least. When she licked her lips, she could taste something bitter and foul in her, as though to reflect how she was feeling.

But she didn’t have a choice. She reminded herself that it was her job to keep ChalkZone in line. No one got special treatment. Not even friends of hers.

Er, scratch that. Former friends.

Penny didn’t bother contacting Skrawl. Not like she needed his opinion to know what to do here. She adjusted her glasses a bit and she raised up her magic chalk. She stared at it intently as she watched it glow and sparkle and she returned her attention to the monitor. She watched Howdy carefully as she tried to figure out where he was going to go. Then she turned around and walked out of the room.

It was easy to know where Howdy would be going. He would obviously want to take a less obvious route. Something that didn’t make a lot of sense, especially for someone his size. If he wanted to go undetected, to get past the law enforcers, his best bet was to ‘blend in with the crowd’. As in, he was better off going through the most crowded spots in ChalkZone City itself. It would be harder for the law enforcers that she and Skrawl had appointed to find him, and so long as he did not rush things, any law enforcer who does not see that he stole something would be none the wiser. It was a brilliant strategy, she had to admit. It made her wonder if similar strategies were employed by other zoners to get what they wanted.

Penny did not dwell on that for long as she exited the castle. She did take a moment to look behind her, admiring just how large this place was. It was more or less a replica of the cactus castle where it all began, only made larger and more grand, with larger, more viciously pointed cacti growing all around, their needles making for some great protection. She then turned her attention towards the front and looked around.

Ah, ChalkZone City was in this direction. She needed to get there quickly if she wanted to intercept Howdy. She looked up in one direction, and she could see the large silhouette of a large creature perched on what looked like a jagged rocky interface. She pressed her fingers in her mouth and she gave a loud whistle.

“Courtney! Come on down!”

She could see the shadow’s head turning and then the wings spread out. In a matter of seconds, there was a rush of air hitting against her and she could see the head shaking and soon she was looking into the eyes of Courtney, her vulture creation. Courtney moved up towards her and rubbed against her a little, nuzzling her. Penny looped her hand around the bird’s massive head and gently stroked her a little before moving back from her. She then walked around her and started to climb onto her back.

It was a little tougher to get on this bird’s back than it used to be. She had grown larger, after all. But Courtney could still manage it and even lowered her body down to allow her to climb up for affectively. Penny soon was laying across Courtney’s back, grabbing around Courtney’s long neck to ensure that she could not fall off so easily.

“Take me over there, Courtney. To ChalkZone City.” Penny instructed. She pointed her finger in the direction that she was talking about. “But be careful. We both need to be quiet. I don’t want anyone there to know that I am coming, okay? Try to be as silent as you can be, all right?”

Courtney appeared to be trying to nod her head, though it was hard to say. Penny became aware of the wings spreading outward, and then, in seconds, Courtney started to take off into the sky. Penny shut her eyes tightly, grinding her teeth together, as the air rushed backed her. Soon this all leveled off and she felt Courtney carrying her in the direction that she had asked for. Penny raised her head up and she stared out ahead with narrowing eyes. She hoped that Howdy had a good explanation for what he was doing.

But something told her that he did not.

When they were getting about three quarters of the way there, Courtney started to slow down a little as if she knew that she should not be coming in this fast. She lowered herself even further, causing the foliage below her to bend to the whim of the wind moving around her. And when they were even closer, the large bird stretched her feet out and flexed her talons, pressing them into the ground. The rest of the way was through walking, Courtney’s back straightened out and body lowered towards the ground.

It did get to the point where Courtney would not be able to follow. Not without raising an alarm that would ensure that Howdy would get away. Penny jumped off from Courtney’s back. After thanking her creation and giving a quick kiss to the top of her beak, Penny started to make her way towards the city’s back entrance slowly.

This was where Howdy was going to try to come on through.

Penny listened carefully. She could hear the sound of footsteps clamoring everywhere. This did not seem abnormal; there were a lot of zoners there trying to get to where they wanted or needed to go. But as she listened carefully, she could hear a few ‘disruptions to the rhythm’, indicating that at least one of the zoners was not acting like how he should.

And of course, this had to be Howdy, rushing through the crowd at the last minute, hoping to get away. He must be out of sight of the law enforcers, otherwise he wouldn’t be doing something this stupid.

But then again...

Penny kept her arms folded against her chest as she saw the small zoner emerging from the crowd and running towards the exit. Howdy was not looking her way; instead he was opting to look elsewhere, as though he thought that he was being followed. The small puppet zoner was so preoccupied with this that he wasn’t looking where he was going. It took only seconds for him to hit up against Penny.

Upon hearing Penny’s grunt, Howdy stiffened and let out a small cry of fear before he scrambled to get back. Howdy looked up at Penny as his body hunched, drawing in a few quick breaths as his mouth hung open. He looked unable to move or do anything.

It didn’t take long for Penny to see the keys hanging out of Howdy’s pocket. She gave the small zoner a gentle smile as she knelt down before him. “Well hello there, Howdy. Nice to see you.” She moved her hand forward and pointed at him. “What are you doing with those keys there? Did you find them?”

Howdy hesitated for a few moments. He licked his dry lips before he choked out. “Y-Yes... I-I-I found them, y-your highness...”

Penny just smiled. Of course Howdy would try to lie about the situation. But no matter. “I see. Well I thank you for finding them.” She reached her hand out towards Howdy, spreading her fingers outward. “I would very much appreciate it if you give me back the keys.”

She was not at all surprised to see that Howdy hesitated. Despite what he had been told, despite the fact that he knew that he couldn’t just run off anywhere, Howdy just stood there, staring at her, licking his lips nervously. He was looking around, as though trying to find some sort of saving grace. Something that would help him get out of here. But as his eyes filled with more fear and desperation, the little puppet must be fast realizing that he could not go anywhere.

Penny just smiled at this. Howdy did look kind of cute when he did this. But she did not stay this amused for long. She did not want to waste time with him. The longer that she stood here staring at him like this, the more chances that there were that something else could happen.

Reaching her hand out towards him a second time, Penny said, “Okay Howdy, give it here. You know what you are supposed to do.”

Howdy licked his lips nervously. He started to come towards her, only to stop and pull himself back. He cringed slightly, his mouth hanging partially open as he looked up at Penny, turning his head to one side. He trembled and huddled inwards against himself, unable to do anything but stare at her in fear. He did attempt to speak a few times, but he just slipped over his own words, his tongue getting twisted.

Penny let out a small sigh, shaking her head. She pushed herself back up to stand, keeping her knees bent but now appearing taller than before. She stopped smiling at Howdy, replacing the smirk with a glare. Not one of fury, but rather instead, one to show Howdy how much she was disapproving of his behavior. She didn’t really want to hurt him, but she was not above doing something if it meant ensuring his safety. Skrawl certainly would not be as merciful as she was.

“Howdy, I am not going to keep telling you this.” Penny said firmly as she reached out towards the zoner. “I don’t know what you plan on doing with that key. But if your claim that you just ‘found it’ is true, then you know you should hand it over to the authorities.” She stretched her fingers outward. “Now just hand it over. Now.”

This time, Howdy did seem to manage to start speaking, though he was a bit stammery in his words. “M-M-My qu-queen... I-If it’s no trouble, I-I was going to t-t-take it to...th-the nearest c-cop... Y-Yes, that’s it!” Howdy motioned his hands swiftly in one direction. “I-I couldn’t f-f-find any, s-s-so I c-came out here and...”

Penny cut him off. “There are plenty of cops in the city. There’s no way that you could have missed them.”

Howdy cringed a little at this, as though he was realizing that his little facade was breaking down. He licked his lips and he swallowed hard. After he panted a few times, he tried again, “Th-There were? I d-did not see a-any... M-M-Maybe they were off duty?” Howdy almost seemed to jump back when Penny thrust her expecting hand forward. “B-B-But surely, y-you don’t want to get your hands d-d-dirty with this, right? Y-You’re the Chalk Qu-Queen... You sh-should not have to worry about th-this sort of thing.”

“I am still responsible for you and all of the other zoners. I would not be much of a queen if I did not look out for you. And that includes keeping everything in its place.” Penny said. She did not attempt to move her hand closer to Howdy, feeling the tendons and ligaments in her hands and wrist tightening up a little. “I do not want to repeat myself, Howdy. Either you give me back those keys and I let you go on your merry little way, or...” Her eyes darkened. “...you will face swift punishment.”

It was clear at this point that Howdy was terrified, more so than he had been before. His expression hinted that he was trying to struggle with his spinning thoughts, breathing in and out heavily as though trying to dry out his mouth. His body shook harder and his eyes darted left and right. He was trying to find a way out.

Penny knew right away just how incriminating this behavior was. Had Howdy truly just ‘found these keys’, he would have handed them over by now. But he was trying to hold onto them. This clearly meant that he wanted to use them for something. She had a very good idea on what it was. Even if her thoughts were incorrect, that did not mean much; there were still other things that Howdy could try to use it for and she had to make sure that she stopped him before he went that far.

When Howdy started to back away, his body hunched and feet prepared to run off, Penny knew that she didn’t have much of a choice. She straightened herself up. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her magic chalk again slowly. At this point, Howdy had already started to run, trying to make a break towards Mumbo Jumbo Jungle.

But it mattered not that he got a head start. He wasn’t going to get far.

Penny began to crank her wrist around in the air, creating elevated lines that curved and connected, the edges of it glowing intensely. She kept doing this for a few seconds before she finished off with flicking her wrist up to one side. Then there was a flash and the device she created fell into her hands neatly. She took the gun-like thing, which had a bulky shape and a huge opening, and aimed it at Howdy. She looked into the scope she included so that she could zoom in on him for a more accurate shot. And then she pulled the trigger.

There was a loud poof and a brief flash of light. A thick mesh net, with large enough holes for breath but too small for escape, shot out. It twisted around in the air and then hit its target. Howdy let out a small cry of pain as he was wrapped up in the mesh net. His body twisted and rolled a little before finally coming to a stop, a bit of dust kicking up into the air.

Penny slowly approached him, glaring down at him. The zoner trembled underneath her glare. He didn’t attempt to do anything at this state. There was nothing that he could do. Penny curled her lip up slightly in contempt, wondering just what she was going to do with this zoner. He surely needed some kind of punishment for trying to defy and run away from his queen. But what would be the most suitable punishment...?

But before she decided on anything, she first needed to figure out just what Howdy was going to do with these keys. She also needed to figure out just how he was working with. She had very little reason to believe that he was doing this for his health, nor would he be bold enough to try something like that.

He was working with someone.

Penny grabbed onto the mesh net and yanked Howdy close to her. She could hear him let out a cry of fear. He wriggled himself a little and looked up at her in fear. He took in a few heavy pants as she glared at him intently, showing him that she was not going to mess around.

In a low, hushed voice, she growled to him, “You are going to tell me exactly what you were going to use those keys and just who hired your help. Failure to comply will result in a rather harsh punishment....” She looked into Howdy’s terrified eyes as she hissed under her breath, “I will give you five seconds...”

sss

The large jellybean zoner had to stop in his tracks when he could hear some sort of screaming out in front of him. He let out a small sigh and shook his head. It didn’t take much for him to realize that some stupid zoner had crossed the line and was receiving punishment the ‘queenly way’ as Penny would put it. This was the only time Penny really went out of her way to inflict pain on a zoner. And she only ever did it if she felt the zoner had something more to tell her.

He snorted softly. He might as well see what all the fuss was about. He pushed himself to move a little faster, carrying himself over to where the screaming came from. He soon reached the corridor where the other zoner prisoners were being held. He walked down, ignoring their shouts at him, as he reached the one that his ‘queen’ was located in.

He could see the Chalk Queen inside of the cell holding onto a small puppet-like zoner. He furrowed his mismatched eyes a little. Wasn’t this that Howdy character? What was Penny doing with him? For her to do this to a zoner that she personally knew...

Skrawl flinched as he saw Penny bending Howdy’s arm beyond what it should and there was a snapping sound. She had dislocated it, separating it from the socket. It could always be reattached later, but the pain would remain for quite a while even if reconnected immediately. Skrawl could not tear his eyes away from the severed arm, biting his lip firmly. His mind spun a little, a bit surprised that Penny would still do that to Howdy. He wasn’t exactly a huge threat, and he meant that in a literal way, not just figuratively.

“P-Please stop this.... Ch-Chalk Queen... I-I-It hurts too m-much!” Howdy screamed out loud. He was attempting to wriggle his way from the Chalk Queen, but all she did was start bending his leg next. He let out another cry of agony as he looked up at her with tear-filled eyes. “Th-This isn’t fun....”

“I never said it was going to be.” The Chalk Queen’s voice was cold and almost shallow-sounding. She was acting as if this had no personal impact on her whatsoever. Skrawl was not sure if he should feel proud of this, or uneasy. “Stop looking at me that way. I told you that you were going to be punished severely if you didn’t comply.”

Howdy shut his eyes and let out a series of whimpers. “P-Please... I-I was telling the truth! Th-There really w-w-wasn’t anybody else who...”

“Enough of your lying, Howdy! I am fully prepared to rip off all your limbs, and even disconnect things further, if you keep on putting up this charade!” Penny growled, baring her teeth. “You’re only pushing things to become worse for yourself. Just answer what I ask and I will stop.”

Howdy let out a series of small cries and sobs. It was absolutely pitiful to watch. And a little annoying as Skrawl scratched at his ear hole. The sounds were pretty high pitched. “Th-This isn’t how you used to be.... Y-Y-You used to be m-my friend.. What happened to you....?”

Penny stared at him for a few seconds. There was a bit of a softening in her expression and a flinch. It was like Penny realized what she was doing, what Howdy was hinting at. But regardless of what thoughts crossed her mind, she still remained where she was. She still refused to let go of Howdy and she was still making it clear, silently, that she was not going to let him go until he gave her what she wanted. That was just how she was. There was no moving around it.

Skrawl was not entirely sure if he should intervene. He did want to get Penny this camera that Craniac managed to create for him so that he could spy on her. But at the same time, he didn’t want to rush things as Penny might get suspicious otherwise. She was busy right now as well; she might not take too kindly to him interrupting her.

Plus, this was a big concern. He could see the keys on the table in the cell there. He quickly assumed, and he was likely correct, that Howdy took them. And now the little puppet zoner was trying to play dumb. He sounded so convincing, but of course, the Chalk Queen wasn’t going to fall for it so easily. Now Howdy was placed in a rather painful situation. You’d have to screw up badly to make Penny try to hurt you like this. But Skrawl had to give Howdy some props. The fact that he lasted this long without cracking was truly admirable.

But Skrawl didn’t waste too much time mentally praising Howdy as his eyes remained narrowed, becoming a little achy. He had to think of just what Howdy could be hiding. The only obvious thing that came to mind is that Howdy was working with someone. He was clearly trying to protect them. But whom could he be working for? Skrawl tapped his claw against his chin as he tried to think.

It couldn’t be Biclops. He had personally taken care of him himself...well with some help from the once-so-little genius girl. She hadn’t gone with him; at the time, she was still adjusting to her role and not as willing to go out and do anything herself. He guessed she was recovering from the guilt of what she had done. But she still drew him a weapon that let him kill Biclops. He did inform her that the deed was complete. She was uncomfortable at first, but nowadays, she didn’t seem at all bothered by it.

The removal of Biclops had been important, even vital, as it removed the one zoner that could impair the takeover. Biclops had been guarding the Chalk Mine. With him gone, Penny had unimpeded access to the mines. It had been put under lock down with only Penny having access to it. This prevented any other zoner from trying to block it off.

“Aaaah! Please stop this!”

Skrawl’s thoughts were cut off by these loud screams of pain. He shook his head and then stared out ahead at what was going on. He could see that Penny had begun work severing Howdy’s leg from his body.

“Aaargh.... Please.... Th-This isn’t fair...” Howdy cried. His body trembled hard and his lip quivered uncontrollably. This did little to slow down the Chalk Queen as she continued to bend and pull his leg beyond its limits. “I-I can’t j-j-just...”

“If you don’t wish to become a pile of wood, I suggest you tell me what I want to know.” the Chalk Queen stated coolly as she glared into Howdy’s frightful eyes. “I am not above killing you...” Howdy let out a weak, terrified gasp at this statement. “So if you don’t wish to die.... Tell me who sent you to steal those keys and just what were you going to do with them...?”

“I-I....” Howdy stammered, his voice heavily distorted with his crying.

Skrawl still remained silent, not having attempted to talk to the Chalk Queen. He doubted that she even knew that he was there; she was too busy keeping her focus on Howdy here. Skrawl could just leave, but he felt himself compelled to stay. He, too, wanted to know just what Howdy had been trying to do.

And it would seem that he didn’t need to wait too much longer.

From how Howdy was acting, it was doubtful that he would last for much longer. He kept squirming a little, sobbing with no way to stop himself. His throat sounded like it was becoming dried out and it was likely that his face was becoming stingy and red from the tears that traveled like a constant stream down his face. The puppet zoner still attempted to worm his way out of this situation, but his speeches were stopped very quickly, either by himself or by Penny. And with his head lowering, his resolve was fading.

Then finally, after his leg was on the brink of being torn off, Howdy broke.

“O-O-Okay..! I-I’ll tell you! J-Just please... s-s-stop h-h-hurting me....!” Howdy sobbed heavily, drawing in a few shaky breaths.

Penny released his leg and gave him a small smile. “There, you see? Isn’t it much easier when you actually listen? If you had done that in the first place, I would not have needed to do this.” Penny took a moment to look down at the severed arm still on the ground. “Heh.... I’ll reattach it for you later. First...” She turned her attention back to Howdy. “...tell me who you are working for.”

Skrawl leaned in to listen.

Howdy let out a choked whimper. “I-It was...”

Penny tilted her head to one side. “Yes...?”

Howdy swallowed hard and he forced himself to finish shakingly, “R-Red F-F-Facial Hair...”

Skrawl leaned his head back and cocked it to one side. His eyebrow raised up in confusion. Just who the heck did Howdy...

“That tiny pirate?” Penny inquired. She must have recognized the name. Howdy nodded his head immediately. Penny let out a small growl. “Why would you be working with somebody like that? You know how much trouble he was when...” She stopped herself, her eyes widening briefly. Then she shook it off and she said, “Anyway, just what did he tell you to do?”

“H-H-He wanted me to g-grab the keys so that he could f-f-free the z-zoners you’ve captured....your highness...” Howdy spoke. Terror laced along his voice, showing no signs of diminishing anytime soon. “He’s b-been planning for it f-f-for a while. H-He wants to t-t-take you down.”

“Oh really now?” Penny gave a smile at this. An eerie one that had Howdy trying to pull himself back, terrified of what might happen to him now. “Heheheheh...” Penny gave a dark chuckle as she leaned in close to Howdy. “Well, I now have a favor of you to ask...” She trailed her fingers along upwards Howdy’s other arm until it reached his face. She pressed her hand against it firmly and she said, “Can you...deliver a package to him for me..?”

Howdy’s eyes widened in horror. “Wh-What kind of p-package...?”

“Well I.... Skrawl? What are you doing here?”

Skrawl nearly jumped up into the air when the Chalk Queen suddenly addressed him. He held himself still for several moments, fumbling his hands together, before he got himself to move forward. He ignored the Chalk Queen’s annoyed expression and Howdy’s fear-filled one as he said, “Chalk Queen, I have something I would like to give you. I think it will make monitoring the zoners even easier.”

The Chalk Queen’s eyes give a quick flicker of interest. “Is that right, King Skrawl?” She started to stroke the top of Howdy’s head like he was some kind of cat or dog. “Well then.... You will have to show me after I take care of this ‘tiny pirate problem’....”

Skrawl nodded his head. “As you wish.”

He did his best not to smile outwardly too much. He couldn’t give away his plan. Once it was all set in motion, he would need to be careful so that Penny remained none the wiser. She would never find out what was really going on.

At least, not until it was too late for her to do anything. Skrawl smirked mentally at the thought. He already had plans for what he was going to do.


	7. Realizations

Rudy could feel his mind filling up with various thoughts as he tried to make sense of what had happened before. Just as everything was ending, he had... But why would he do that? Especially knowing what she had done... Why would he still...

Rudy gripped at his head a little. He wanted to pull himself back. That was not an option as he would have hurt his neck. Penny had, no surprise, reattached the cuff to his neck. It was already starting to feel itchy and sore. But he would have to get used to it; wasn’t like Penny was going to let it off of him during the week. It seemed like such a silly thing to put on him; just how was he going to escape that she was so worried about? How did she think that he could even pull it off? That would be truly a miracle in the making.

The young man sat himself on the ground. His back was arched and his head lowered to keep the chain from tugging and pulling on his neck. He crossed his legs, ignoring the aches that spread throughout, and he just stared blankly at the ground. He breathed in and out heavily, his eyes becoming a bit of a blank.

He just...still couldn’t believe it. Something had compelled him to...kiss Penny...despite what she had done. Was it just his emotions playing tricks on him? He had been trapped down here an awfully long time. Was his brain just yearning for some kind of affection?

He shook his head. It mattered not what he thought about the situation. It still happened. At least Penny was not aware of it. He had no clue what she would say to him about it. She could just simply taunt him about the whole thing. Or she could smack him for it. She might let him off the hook, or she might punish him. There were a number of things that could happen, and unfortunately, he didn’t have any sort of way to prove or disprove it. He would just have to wait and see what would happen.

Rudy turned his head and he peered on the ground. He could see the marks that he had placed there in an effort to keep an eye on how many days it’s been. There were so many marks now, it was difficult to put it any new ones. But despite that, Rudy still found himself lowering his fingers to the ground. He used his fingernail, coating it in his saliva slightly, and began to chip away at the metal ground. He had to dip his tongue in against his finger a couple of times, but ultimately, he was able to get a new mark in the ground, joining the hordes of other ones.

He could feel his heart sinking as he saw just how many marks he had placed here. There was little reason for him to think that these were the only ones. He probably had a lot more days that he had not accounted for. That combined with these....

He felt tears forming in his eyes. Would he ever be able to get out of this place? He had asked himself that over and over again.

And that wasn’t the only thing.

Horror clutched at his chest when he started to wonder whether or not he wanted to get out of here. The fear of uncertainty, of recapture, and the unknown... It all combined together, working as a single unit to warn him against doing such a thing. As horrible as his life was here, at least he didn’t need to worry about something unexpected happening. He knew what Penny did and she had been doing this for years; she probably wouldn’t change. And she had been right about something else; so long as he stayed here, he was safe. To an extent....but still safe.

In the past, Rudy would have been adamant about wanting to leave. He would not have taken ‘no’ for an answer. He would have continued to fight and look for ways to get out. He would want to return to his family, to hold them, and just...be away from Penny. Even if she did suddenly apologize, that didn’t hide the fact that she still had hurt him so badly.

So why wouldn’t he still want to get away? Could he really be getting to accustomed to this? Was he going to let his fear of hope get in the way? What about his parents?

...just how would they react to finding out their son was held prisoner by his ‘best friend’ for years...?

Despite the fact that Rudy had every reason to turn his former friend in, something about that still left a bad taste in his mouth. And how would they treat Mrs. Sanchez? She was not at all responsible for what her daughter had done. But Rudy had a strong hunch that, even his parents wouldn’t have emotional heart attacks from seeing their ‘dead’ son back after all of this time, they would very likely have a clash with Mrs. Sanchez. Then there was the possibility of Mrs. Sanchez potentially losing her job and...

No, he knew that he couldn’t do such a thing. No matter how angry he was with Penny, no matter how much he wanted justice, it just wasn’t worth destroying another life. It would only provide Penny with more validity in what she was doing. She would most certainly blame him for what happened.

And no doubt, the stigma would reach his father.... It wouldn’t be just Mrs. Sanchez who would feel the burn...

Rudy clenched his teeth tightly, trying to fight against the tears. He collapsed against the ground, the emotions weighing upon him becoming too much. He sucked in a shaky breath, releasing a small whimper. He was trapped in an unwinnable situation. He didn’t have any idea what he was going to do.

Slam!

Rudy jolted up quickly, too fast as he had pulled his neck on the chain, causing him to slam back down. He released a few weak coughs as he lifted his head up again and stared over at Penny, who was marching into the room with a rigid stance and gait. Rudy gulped silently at this, even though Penny was not looking at him this time.

Rather than going up to him, he could see that Penny was rushing towards the desk itself that was nearby. She grabbed onto the top one and attempted to open it. She must have been a bit lost in her mind as she seemed to have forgotten that she needed a sort of key first. She quickly corrected this and opened up the drawer.

That was when Rudy could see her pulling out the item she wanted to store. It didn’t seem like much. Just some kind of a key. Though it was a bit strange that it was so rusted and....

Hmm, that seemed to be too red to be...

Rudy felt a gasp escaping his throat at the sight of this. He put his hands to his mouth and he cringed himself back, panting heavily, sweat moving down his face. That...That was not rust...

It was blood...

Penny held up the blood soaked key, staring at it nonchalantly as though it wasn’t as big of a deal to her than it was with Rudy. If anything, she appeared to be treating it like a minor frustration. Something that was to be dismissed and forgotten about. Rudy had his doubts that he was going to forget about this anytime soon.

Penny seemed to notice that he was looking at her. She stared at him sideways for a bit before shifting herself around. She held up the key in front of her. This allowed Rudy to get a better view of it, and he could see that the blood caked around the top part of it, where it sort of thinned out slightly. This gave Rudy all the mental imagery that he needed to know exactly how this key must have been used, how it got that blood on it.

“May this serve as a warning not to try to cross me. You wouldn’t want to end up the way that Red Facial Hair had.”

Rudy recognized the name of that pirate leader. Despite having no fond memories of him, he could feel himself shaking as he thought of what Penny must have done to him. “Wh-What did you do to him....?”

Penny just smirked darkly. Rudy’s eyes shifted towards the blood-stained key and a series of mental images dawned in his mind. The very thought of it was enough to make his blood turn cold.

“Howdy could have prevented it if he just did what I asked of him.” Penny shrugged her shoulders. “He didn’t seem to want to listen. I guess he was too scared to do it.” She seemed to notice the look in Rudy’s eyes. “Don’t worry; I didn’t do anything to your precious little puppet. He was just locked away. He was only obeying Red Facial Hair. And I took care of him...personally.”

Rudy swallowed a bitter mouthful, feeling it slither down his throat slowly, as he stared up at Penny in fear. Despite the relief of knowing that Howdy was okay, to know that Penny had.... He lowered his head and shut his eyes tightly.

When was this nightmare going to end...?

sss

Although she would much rather be doing something else, she might as well see what Skraw had all lined up for her. He did seem particularly excited about....something.

“So what is it you wanted to show me? You said it would make things easier.” Penny folded her arms against her chest. “I should hope that you are right about that.”

Skrawl nodded his head. “Oh but I am! I’m sure you will agree!” Skrawl said with a smile plastering across his face, his crooked teeth bared with that horrid yellow stain upon it. “You couldn’t have picked a better time, too! After that little mishap with those zoners, you could use something to make the process easier. A better way to monitor the little ingrates.”

Penny cocked up an eyebrow at this. “This is what you wanted to tell me?”

Skrawl said, “Well yes. I thought you would be happy to have...”

“...another way to monitor the zoners? Please..” Penny turned herself to one side. She waved her hand dismissively, gritting her teeth slightly. She shifted her gaze upwards as she said, “I already got plenty of cameras, ‘King Skrawl’. I don’t need any more of them. There’s enough surveillance of the zoners and....”

“It apparently is not enough, right?” Skrawl cut her off.

Penny turned her head to stare at him with a sideways glance. “Explain yourself.”

“Well...” Skrawl made a few gestures with his hands. It looked as if he was struggling to keep speaking. Perhaps he really did think that she would just accept this ‘gift’ of his so easily. The thought caused her to chuckle lightly. “It’s just that... there’s been some slips in the cracks, you know?” He motioned towards Penny and added in, “You can’t sit there and pretend that you did not notice this yourself.” He took a step towards Penny, looking almost desperate, or perhaps Penny was just reading too much into it. “We can’t let this keep happening. An even more restrictive surveillance is the key here. Our current methods are not working. The zoners are finding ways to peak through it.”

“And I’m sure they will continue to do so, no matter how many cameras we add.” Penny pointed out. “We should focus our attention on swift punishment to deter the other zoners from thinking of trying anything. I don’t get why that isn’t good enough for you. I thought you would have been happy with just that.”

It was true. Skrawl had been more focused on punishment, more so than her, during their reign together. He had always been the sort to prefer ‘giving examples’ to make the zoners not want to disobey. It did seem pretty odd to see this same zoner be so adamant about updating the surveillance. Not that Skrawl was ever against it; but she was used to seeing his focus shifted elsewhere.

Skrawl took a step towards her. He held out his hands. They were pressed together, palms up, claws curving inward, and he leaned them towards her. Penny stared down the small item that rested in the palm of his orange hands. She let out a small sigh as she reached towards the object and grabbed onto it.

“A small sphere? This is your idea?” Penny scoffed. She examined the item. There was nothing about this that looked remarkable. It was just a black ball with no distinguishable features. “This looks more like a toy.” She squeezed it tightly in her hand as she stared up at Skrawl. “How is this supposed to help me?”

“Cr....I mean, I could have more of them made. Their purpose is to float around in the air undetected. They could get to places our normal cameras cannot.” Skrawl raised his hand up in gesture. “Think about it, my little Chalk Queen. We could soon monitor the zoners even right in their homes...”

Penny felt herself being hit by a wave of emotion at this statement. She felt her eyes widen a little, her eyes sparking with emotion. She stared at Skrawl for several long seconds as she contemplated this thought. She could feel a swirl of thoughts entering her head, the world around her becoming slightly fuzzy, a heavy breathing dominating every time she drew air into her lungs.

She knew what the right decision would be. If she did monitor the zoners in every aspect, there would be even less of a chance of them doing anything. If they knew they were being watched, they would be compelled to obey, to listen. It would reduce the chances of another uprising happening. It would be the perfect solution. There was still the issue of underground surveillance, but that would be dealt with later. Most of the zoners here were taking advantage of the openness all around, using camera blind spots no doubt. She had been lucky that she caught Howdy before he managed to get away.

But...was that a step she was willing to take? It seemed like a silly question to ask herself. It seemed like a no-brainer. So why was she hesitating about this? Why was this, out of all things, starting to leave a bad taste in her mouth?

Then the answer came so swift, so easily. Something echoed in the back of her head. She could feel the chilling presence of that twisted Snap hallucination she had earlier, haunting her in the back of her mind. His equally chilling words floated around in her head and did little to leave her in peace. She panted heavily a little before she turned her attention to Skrawl.

But rather than outright deny his ‘offering’, she had another idea. “I will look into this.” She said as she held onto the device firmly in her hand. “Be sure to give Craniac my thanks. And thank you as well, Skrawly.”

“Don’t call me Skrawly...!”

Penny chuckled lightly before she turned and started to make her way down the hallway. She waited until she got far enough away before she glared back down at the device. She furrowed her eyes deeply and she immediately started to squeeze it. Must have been made very fragile; since it was Craniac, it wasn’t a surprise. The device easily crumbled in her hands. She brushed herself off. She flinched a little as some of the broken flecks scraped her skin. She soon shrugged it all off and she continued on her way.

She did not notice Skrawl watching him from afar, a smile twisting along his face.

sss

He knew that he had to act fast if he wanted an idea of what was going on. He didn’t know how long it would take the Chalk Queen to realize that something was up. And he couldn’t just head over to the monitor room; she might be heading there at any point. No, he needed somewhere for himself, where he alone could monitor things to see what was happening.

And as such, he headed out in a different direction, towards his own room where he slept during the night. The large jellybean zoner realized that this was his best chance at seeing what the Chalk Queen was doing. Craniac was smart enough to give him his own monitor. Now all he had to do was find a night, quiet spot where he would examine things without being interrupted. And luckily for him, his ‘queen’ usually would not bother him over in his own room.

Skrawl made his way down the corridor, trying to be quick but not too conspicuous. He had to at least still act like nothing was going on. He could potentially be watched and he wouldn’t know it if he weren’t careful enough.

Once he got to his door, he moved himself inside quickly. He knew it was not necessary, but he still locked the door behind him anyway. Just in case.... He didn’t want to take any chances with Penny around. He took a moment to look over at the door, double checking to make sure that it really was shut and the lock turned, and then he headed in deeper into the room. It wasn’t too large and it took little time for him to reach his oversized bed, which Penny joked matched his oversized ego. He growled at the thought.

He sat down and looked at the monitor. The screen was still black as he had not yet turned it on. He felt some hesitation towards this. Not because he felt bad about violating Penny’s privacy. Oh far from it. He was just...unsure and had a bitter taste in his mouth. His thoughts went to what Craniac had asked him before. This caused him to repeat the question to himself.

Could Penny really be hiding something from him...?

He felt disgusted by the thought. Though it wouldn’t really surprise him, the idea that Penny had been lying to him and doing...something...behind his back was enough to make him seethe with rage. She was supposed to obey him and listen to what he wanted. But while this was the case for a while, she had been slowly gaining her own footing and now it was he who took orders from here.

Even when he didn’t want to...

Skrawl snarled and he felt the urge to rise up once again. It was he that he wanted the zoners to fear and respect. Penny was only supposed to help him. He didn’t know exactly when things went wrong. But he was going to find a way to reverse things, to put the Chalk Queen in her place and make the zoners realize that it’s their king that they should be answering to. He didn’t ‘hire’ Penny to take his place utterly.

He hoped that the monitor was going to reveal something to him that he could use to his advantage. He doubted that he could turn the zoners on Penny more than they already were. But he might find something that would make them rethink her as the dominant heir to ChalkZone.

After a few moments, Skrawl shook his head and he forced himself to turn the device on. There was a small blip sound and a flash of light. It illuminated against his face, making the skin appear almost sickly greenish white. And then he watched carefully, seeing what was going to happen.

It was easy to tell that Penny was walking down the hallway. But he wasn’t entirely sure where she was going at first. She was still in the castle, but this looked like a section he himself rarely went to. He was aware that she had her own private room that she liked to go into for a while at least once a day for rest. But this was going in a completely different direction. This was something new to Skrawl and it was more than enough to cause his eyes to widen in shock and realization. And it made Craniac’s words all the more prominent in his head. Skrawl narrowed his eyes slowly and he realized that Craniac was right.

Penny really had been hiding something from him.

“Just where are you going, my little Chalk Queen...?” Skrawl hissed under his breath as he put his face closer to the monitor. He watched intently as Penny walked up towards a wall that appeared to be a dead end....only for her to phase right through it. “What....?” Skrawl found himself breathing, unable to believe what he was seeing.

There was a hidden section of the castle...? This thought raced through his mind. He couldn’t believe he didn’t know about this. The Chalk Queen never once told him about this. It must have been a deliberate move. She had created a lower tunnel, sealing it off from the rest of the castle, and deliberately did not tell him about it. She had been wanting to keep this a secret.

But why would she want this section hidden? What could she be doing in here that she didn’t want him knowing about? He was not sure if this was a hidden area where she planned to usurp him. She already kind of had more power than him, considering things. And she had been disappearing for years. That was...an awful lot of time to prepare for something that she could just draw something to make happen. No, there was something else going on here and he was going to find out what it was, regardless of how much Penny tried to make it invisible to everyone but herself.

Skrawl noticed that Penny was slowly approaching some kind of door. So this was her secret underground headquarters, eh? A part of Skrawl wondered if this was where she disappeared to during her ‘time off’ once a week. He wouldn’t be able to determine that until the next time it rolled around. That is, provided that she didn’t realize that she was being filmed.

It didn’t take her long to reach the door. Skrawl could feel his heart starting to flutter in excitement. Soon he was going to find out exactly what Penny had been doing all of this time. And, depending on what it was, he could use it to his advantage.

The door swung open and then....

Skrawl widened his eyes in shock at what he was seeing. He blinked a few times and he could feel his hand moving towards his mouth swiftly. Despite what he would normally feel, shock and even a tinge of horror struck through him. In a soft voice, he found himself whispering one thing.

“Master Tabootie...?”

sss

“Y-You’re back already? I-I thought you...” Rudy swallowed hard as he could see Penny approaching him. This felt a bit too....sudden and quick compared to how she normally was. “Usually you aren’t...”

“I know. This must all seem to quick for you. But interrogating takes a lot of energy. So does punishing. I just need some time to relax. And you help me with that, Rudy.” Penny said with a smile on her face. Not a sweet smile; one that sent chills up and down his spine. He could feel himself cringing as Penny continued to draw herself closer. “I will not be long. I just....need someone to be with right now. Someone who can help me relieve my tensions. Someone like....you.”

Rudy gulped a little, wondering if this meant that Penny was going to.... He pushed the thought out of his head. That only ever happened once a week. But that did not make him feel any better. After all, there were other ways for her to mess with him. Other ways to make him feel absolutely terrified. All in the name of her own benefit....

He lowered himself to the ground as he saw Penny getting ever closer, the smile on her face remaining just as twisted and outstretched. He could just feel the tension that was absorbed into her body as a result of whatever she had done with Howdy and Red Facial Hair. She must have been more stressed out than usual, causing her to want a release sooner than normal. With the way that she was looking at him, it was clear that, whatever she had planned, he was not going to like it.

Then again, did he ever like what she did?

Well, he had to admit, sometimes she did make him feel good, in a sort of twisted kind of way. It was hard for him to think of that. It made him feel weak and stupid, and he tried not to express this to her. Yet he was well aware that she knew. That was why she often took her time with him. She was enjoying it herself.

Rudy couldn’t bring himself to speak as Penny began to enter his cage. He swallowed hard and cringed back. Penny was being equally silent, the smirk on her face the only thing that she needed to do in order to inform Rudy silently of what she had planned. Rudy felt his body shaking and he released a few low whimpers. He turned his head away and prepared for what he knew was going to happen. It didn’t take long for Penny’s hand to find its way on top of his head. He shivered as she started to stroke him.

“I am glad to see that you’re so understanding of this. Not many people would be.” Penny cooed as she ran her fingers through Rudy’s hair. “I’m sure you know what it must be like, to be so tense and frustrated....” Penny released a small sigh. Her stroking slowed but her hand remained firmly pressed against his head. She tilted her head up and said, “Sometimes there are moments where I wish I could return to the simpler joys in life, you know?”

Rudy grumbled under his breath, “Then release ChalkZone.”

“Heheheheh, oh Rudy, you’re so silly. You know I can’t do that. Not after all that I’ve done and been through here.” Penny gave Rudy a sideways glance. “Do you honestly think that I could walk away from all of this? You’d have to be blind to think that.”

Rudy growled softly, remaining silent after that bit. Penny was right. She wouldn’t exactly just give up her chance just because of a mild setback. She had grown accustomed to being ChalkZone’s primary leader. She had gotten a taste of power. He knew that at least some part of her would not want to just give up on that so easily.

But there was a noticeable tinge to her voice that he couldn’t simply ignore. Something that told him that there might be more to this than he initially realized. But he couldn’t focus too much on that right now. Not while Penny was petting him like he was some kind of animal.

“You know, perhaps this should have been done sooner. Don’t you agree?” It was hard to tell if Penny really expected him to answer or not, or if she was just talking out loud to herself. Either way, Rudy shuddered as she spoke. “With ChalkZone under my control, things have been, more or less, better. Less crime. Less death. The zoners have less to fear.”

“Because it is you they are afraid of...” Rudy told her, his eyes narrowing softly. She looked down at him, not attempting to stop him from speaking. Rudy continued, “The zoners are concentrated on you now. I wonder how long it’ll be before they try something.”

Penny blinked at this a few times. Then she tilted her head up and she gave a small smile. “I doubt there’s much that they can do. I don’t know why you’d think I would be so worried about that. What can a zoner do to a creator?”

He could hear that same tone again. Was Penny becoming a little....aware of the situation? Was she becoming afraid that something might happen? Was something going on that was increasing her worries? This all seemed possible. Perhaps it was not just Howdy and Red Facial Hair who were causing problems. Perhaps there was something else going on that Penny was not allowing him to find out. Likely because she realized that it might give him a glimmer of hope.

Because of course it did. But fear still reigned heavily on his mind. No matter how empowered he might feel knowing that the zoners are trying to fight back, he was still bound by his fears. The memory of what he had done to him still haunted him. The very thought of taking any kind of action against her caused him to freeze, remembering how she would target his leg to ‘put him in line’. The very memory was enough to keep him still, unable to bring himself to fight back.

That didn’t stop him from hoping that the zoners might do something. He didn’t want them to actually hurt Penny, though he imagined it would still come to that. He just wanted them to find a way to snap her out of it, to get her to see what she was doing, if she was still ignoring that herself. He was hoping that the zoners could figure out a way to get her to surrender at the very least, to end her terrible reign.

But that was pushing it, wasn’t it? He couldn’t even tell how much of the original Penny was still there. And he had seen for himself just how much she had changed. He had little reason to believe that she would just change back that easily. She might have adopted her Chalk Queen persona permanently.

And she still broke his leg all those years ago....

Penny spoke up, cutting off his thoughts. “Come on and lay down with me, Rudy. I know you like it.”

Rudy turned his head to see that Penny was patting her hand against her lap. He bit his lip and swallowed. He had a feeling that this was going to come up eventually. It almost made him wish it was that time of the week again. Of course, the keyword there was ‘almost’.

Knowing that he didn’t have much room to say ‘no’, Rudy started to make his way over towards Penny, crawling forward, doing his best not to irritate his sore skin where the metal strap was still attached. And soon he managed to reach her, feeling her body warmth hitting him against the face even before he made contact with her. His head soon rested up against her lap and he held still, trying to ignore the surge of uncomfortableness that ate away at his core.

Penny wasted no time in stroking him along the top of his head, neck, and back. “That’s right. I know you like this, Rudy. I like it, too.”

Oh he bet she would. But Rudy dared not make a comment on that.

Then Penny’s face furrowed a little, becoming more thoughtful than taunting. This caught his attention. He became genuinely curious of what she was thinking of. Why was she looking this way? What could be on her mind? Was it related to what they were talking about before or did something else come to her mind?

Whatever it might be, Penny wasn’t talking about it. Rudy felt almost compelled to ask, yet held his tongue. This might be one of those things that Penny would rather not tell him and if he asked, she might get angry with him. He had to force himself to stay quiet, having no choice in the matter. He kept himself tense. He knew that he couldn’t fully relax when Penny was involved. Even being forced to sleep in the same bed with her, he never knew when she would try something and it was only by miracle that he ever managed to get to sleep then.

But whatever was bothering Penny, she had apparently banished it from her mind relatively quickly, forcing it to dissipate into the air and she returned her attention to him. She immediately smirked at him as she started to press her fingernails slightly against him. He flinched as he could feel the nails pushing up against his skin and he flinched, trying his best to hold himself still.

Penny gave a few small chuckles as she said, “I do have to wonder what Snap might think of this.”

Rudy’s eyes widened in shock and horror at this. He looked up at Penny with a disbelieving expression. Was she seriously going to take that route...?

Penny continued, “I mean, I wonder how he would think of you if he saw you in this situation, bowing before me. I wonder if he will still think highly of you.” She paused for a moment before she shrugged her shoulders. “Eh, probably not. I mean, you were the reason he ended up dying.”

Rudy gave a small snarl at this, or at least he could have, had he not caught himself in time. He stared at her with a trembling body, seething through his clenched teeth. How fucking dare she try to say something like that....

Penny didn’t seem to care about how he was reacting. At least, her behavior suggested this, despite how he was glaring at her. “I’m sure he would be...happy that something like this was being done. He probably would have wanted you to ‘learn your lesson’ about things. He might even applaud on how well you’ve been doing. He knew you so well, I’m sure. He would probably have realized how much progress you were making than I would know.”

The young male human felt his body shaking a little more. It was becoming increasingly difficult for him to keep himself from launching at Penny right then and there. Only his fear of pain, of getting hurt, was enough to keep him down.

“I’m not sure why you’re getting upset with me, Rudy. You know that I speak the truth. You know that’s exactly how Snap would feel. Don’t even try to hide from it. You know exactly what you did.” There was a bit of darkness in her voice at this point, and something that sounded close to....desperation? “He probably knew something like this would happen. Do you remember the look in his eyes as he fell down to his death? He knew that you could have prevented it, yet you still stood there, doing nothing....”

Rudy couldn’t keep himself silent. His shaky voice choked out, “Y-You gave me little time...”

“That is of no excuse and you know it!” Penny snarled at him. Rudy turned his head, expecting her to stroke him. He was surprised when no blow came to him. Instead, Penny just sighed and tilted her head back slightly. “But that doesn’t matter anymore, does it.” She looked up, her facial expression hinting at the longingness of something unreachable, unattainable. And Snap would certainly fit the bill, considering.... “There are times when I do wish that things could have turned out differently. But we can’t change the past, can we?”

That, Rudy couldn’t really argue with. None of them had the ability to rewind time to change what happened. The idea gave Rudy some moment of hesitation. Would messing with the timeline even be a good idea? Sure, he might be able to get Snap back and stop Penny before she became corrupted. All these years under Skrawl’s influence had not been good for her. But at the same time, would it create something better or something worse? Rudy doubted that he would ever want to find out.

Rudy wanted to get away from this topic. He had a feeling of what Penny might be trying to do, bringing Snap into this, trying to act like she hoped things could change. It was all starting to weigh in on him and he had to struggle to push it back. There was no way that he could just keep sitting here, listening to this, without trying to ‘act out’.

And that’s likely what Penny wanted. He could hear the energy in her voice, the desire to let loose. She was trying to find a way to get him to do something so that she could respond. She wanted him to give her a reason to hurt him. Even if that wasn’t what she was trying to do on the surface, he had known her well enough recently to know that she’s gotten a little obsessed with catharsis, the need to release when it would not really relieve the pressure; only delay it from bursting.

Rudy could not allow her to enter a catharsis state again. Perhaps, if he acted carefully, he could prevent her from getting a reason for herself to act out. Even if it wasn’t that often, he could tell that a build up was happening. He knew that it was aimed right for him as he was a convenient target for Penny. And then...

“What do you think Snap would think of you right now?” Penny’s voice called out to him, cutting off his thoughts. “I mean, I’m sure you must have some belief on what he would want. He was your creation, after all.” She paused for a moment before she glared down at him sideways. “...even if you didn’t act like it...”

Rudy could feel himself releasing a small growl before he could stop himself. Though he managed to catch himself and pull back, he had already reacted. He could see how Penny’s eyes were glinting, as though silently warning him of what was about to come. Rudy froze for a few moments before forcing himself to pull back, turning his head away and sighing quietly. He had nearly fallen into that trap again.

“...I think he would be disappointed....in both of us.” Rudy answered. He slowly turned his head towards Penny, seeing how she was looking at him with a blank expression, one eyebrow slightly raised up. Rudy continued speaking, keeping his voice soft and level. “He would wonder what happened to us. He would ask me why am I not doing anything....and he would ask you why you are hurting so many people.”

Penny’s hand started to curl inward against itself. Not a full on fist, but the start of one. Rudy stopped speaking to give Penny a chance to reply. She didn’t do so right away. But when she did, Rudy could have sworn that he could hear the heavy growls flowing from her voice. It was enough to send chills down his spine.

“Excuse me...? Snap would ask me why I’m hurting zoners....?” She tilted her head to one side, her lips becoming slightly pursed. “Wouldn’t he appreciate what I’m doing? Establishing something to ensure that they would not get hurt again?”

Rudy gulped as he recognized this tone. It would seem that, despite his struggle not to let this happen, he still managed to trigger what Penny wanted all along. A reason to start releasing her emotions. And not in the same way that she did during her ‘special days’. But in a more aggressive, painful way, where he was the one who would get the rough end of the stick. These were not ‘scheduled’. They would happen at random, and were far less controlled.

He had more of a reason to be terrified of Penny during this time.

Rudy attempted to remedy the situation. There had to be some way that he could get Penny to calm herself down, right? He just needed to figure out the right words to start pulling her back down to him, to help her settle down before she reached the point of crossing over.

Would he succeed? There was only one way to find out.

“I...I’m sure he would...at least...think that there was a reason...” Rudy struggled to speak. He deliberately avoided trying to put blame on Penny. Not because he thought she was in no way at fault, but because, at this point, it would be too dangerous to do so. And, deep inside, he did believe at least some of what she said about him being at fault himself. “I mean, he was....never the type to jump to c-conclusions.”

Penny stared at him for a few long moments. There was some tension that grew all around them, engulfing them both in what felt like a hard thickness that neither could escape from. Rudy struggled to keep himself breathing as he stared into Penny’s eyes, panting heavily while trying to keep himself under control.

How long was this lasting? He couldn’t tell. He was only vaguely aware of the time moving so slowly, so deliberately. He felt a pain surging in his stomach, his nerves aching, his eyes starting to show him things that weren’t there. He thought he could see Penny getting ready to move in to attack him, only to realize that he was only hallucinating. He curled his fingers inward a little, feeling the pain of his tendons tightening up, nearly cutting his own palm. He didn’t know how long he could handle this before....

Then, with some level of relief for Rudy, Penny did start to speak. “I...suppose you are right.” She lifted her hand up and used it to stroke through her hair. She let her hair fall before she continued speaking. “I’m not sure why I couldn’t have realized that myself. Yes, Rudy, you’re right about that.”

Rudy resisted the urge to sigh in relief. It would seem that he did ultimately succeed in what he wanted to do.

But then...

“Thank you, Rudy.”

The voice was so light that Rudy had to quickly turn his head to stare at Penny in shock. He hadn’t expected her to say something like that and he wasn’t sure what to think of it. He remained silent for several long moments, a part of him wondering if she even said anything. Or maybe he was just hearing things. In the end, he ended up staying silent. He didn’t want to risk saying anything to piss her off by mistake. Not after the progress that he’s just made.

But just when he thought he was going to get some kind of break, he suddenly could feel Penny rushing up to him. His instinct was to let out a small cry of fear, fully expecting her to hurt him, even if there was no context for her to do so. He could feel her ramming up into him and the two of them fell into the ground. The force pulled the chain on him and he let out another cry.

But it was muted just as quickly as it came when Penny put her lips, kissing him expectantly. Rudy’s eyes bulged open in shock and he found himself unable to move. He couldn’t fathom why she did this out of schedule nor could he bring himself to say anything. He just held still, shivering, waiting for it to be over.

Penny soon pulled back a little, keeping her face close to his. She smiled for a moment before she suddenly started to drive her fingernails against his arm’s flesh and skin. Rudy hissed in pain as Penny started to scratch him up like this, dragging her hands down deliberately slowly.

“I still want some way to expel all this excess energy. You understand, right?” Penny twisted her head to one side, one of her eyes twitching and widening almost unnaturally. “Well if your failure to save Snap is of any indication....”

Rudy could barely hold his breath, barely hold back his cries of confusion and panic. Penny was already twisted enough as it was, but something was starting to seep out into the surface. Sudden and almost out of nowhere... He had to wonder just what had happened to her that caused his shift. And then he had to ask....

...did he want to know?


	8. The Beginnings Of A Crack

Skrawl’s eyes widened as he witnessed what was happening before him. The screen continued go glow against his face, highlighting his imperfections, his mouth hanging open as his hand slowly moved to his mouth. It hovered there a little, shaking slightly, and he kept drawing in breath after breath.

As much as he would love to believe that what he saw wasn’t real or was just an exaggeration, he couldn’t bring himself to pretend that this was the case. He knew that the camera wasn’t lying and he knew that Penny, the Chalk Queen, really was doing this. She was acting in a way that he himself was not familiar with, and it caused him to inhale and exhale quickly. Something about it just....didn’t settle right in his head.

But that was not the reason why he was so shocked. Oh no, there was something else that was drawing his attention and it wasn’t Penny herself.

Rather, it was the fact that Rudy Tabootie was alive.

Skrawl kept himself still for several long moments, his eyes widening and head spinning at this revelation. He put his hand to his head and rubbed it up and down slowly, gritting his teeth tightly. He could feel many thoughts invading his head, making it feel full and wobbly, like he was going to collapse at any moment. There was a sudden weight to him that he didn’t expect and he had to rub his head firmly to give himself any sense of balance. It took all of his strength just to make sure that his fingers didn’t drop the monitor that he was still somehow holding.

This revelation caused a wash of emotion and memories to crowd through his head, causing it to throb. He thought back to all of those times when Penny had mentioned, either to him or someone else, how she had killed Rudy, and then he compared it to what he was seeing now. Rapidly, the truth of the situation unfolded before his very eyes and he couldn’t help but hear Craniac’s words entering his head.

Penny really had been hiding something from him after all. Not just from him, but all of the zoners as well. Skrawl could feel his mismatched eyes widen slowly at this, realizing just how much he and the others had been duped this whole time. Then his eyes narrowed slowly and he released a low growl.

Why had the Chalk Queen lied about this? Why had she made everyone, including him, believe that Rudy was dead? Well, he could see her convincing the zoners of this. But what of her king? Himself? Why was he not exempt from this? Why couldn’t she tell him that Rudy was still alive and was her personal prisoner? He couldn’t think of any reason why this would be the case. She didn’t have anything to gain from it, except perhaps ensuring that Rudy’s fate was entirely her own. Maybe even draw things out a little.

But for Rudy still be around, she must have kept him locked up for years. In all of those years, she never once even tried to tell him that Rudy was still around. In all of those years, she had kept Rudy locked up like an animal, treated in a way that looked even more demeaning than what he and Craniac had planned. And yet he had a feeling there was still more to what was going on than what he was seeing.

Skrawl felt his head fill more with confusing, conflicting emotions as he tried to figure out how he should react to this. He didn’t know whether or not he should be horrified or impressed that Penny had managed to do this and keep it secret for so long. He didn’t know if he should feel concern for Rudy, even though he was his creator or not. Yet he was still able to acknowledge just how twisted the scene was and....

Skrawl let out a small sigh as he kept pushing his hand to his head. He was not in the proper mental state to fully figure things out, to fully process what he was witnessing. His whole body shook still, from the shock of realizing that Penny kept Rudy a prisoner for years. He was going to need some time to adjust to this revelation and time to figure out what he should do from here. He took in a deep breath and let out a small sigh. He cast a glance at the monitor and he curled his lip up slightly.

Using whatever capability that he presently had to speak, he said, “So this is where you’ve been sneaking off to, eh, my little Chalk Queen....?”

Skrawl gripped the device tightly before pushing it against the ground. He didn’t care if it broke or not. He had already seen enough. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to see more. He turned his gaze downward a little, letting his mind fill up with many thoughts regarding what happened. There was one thing that he did know for certain.

He was going to need to think of something to do eventually.

Rudy being alive... It was not something that he had expected, and it carried with it so much repercussion, so much potential for more to go wrong, more to fall in the way of things. It made him wonder what else Penny could be hiding from him and it made him wonder just what kind of true capacity that she had. If she could keep her former friend locked up this way and treat him like shit, then who is to say that this wouldn’t spread outward? Who was to say that she wouldn’t start going as far as, say, turning it against him?

Perhaps he was simply being paranoid. But it was still something that needed to be addressed. The fact that Rudy was not dead was only part of the situation. It was merely the catalyst that brought everything together. It’s what brought to his attention what more could be going on underneath the surface. Perhaps the best way to get a stronger idea of where she stood on things was if he.....waited until that ‘special’ time of the week, and learn what happened then.

sss

Was there something wrong with her? Was there a reason that she was acting this way? Was there something that her mind was not telling her? Something hidden underneath the surface? She struggled to think of what it could be. She struggled to figure out just what could be wrong. But it seemed like, the more that she tried to do this, the more frustrating everything became. She was still staring at her hands, her mind rushing through thoughts of what had happened.

Penny had been priding herself for a while for self control. But that facade seemed to be breaking down. She could feel as though it was starting to get pulled apart at the seams, and she couldn’t simply let go of it.

It all started when she thought she saw Snap. Could that be triggering something? It certainly seemed so. She thought that she had everything under control. But something was clawing its way to the surface. Something was starting to give, and if this kept up, she might end up doing something that she would regret. This could even intervene with her ability to run as leader of ChalkZone.

Or perhaps she was just getting ahead of herself. Things had been fine up to this point, hadn’t they? Well, it was true that she used to have problems years ago, much more severe issues and trying to adjust to everything. But she had pushed those feelings aside and ever since, it had been, more or less, smooth sailing. She thought that this meant that things were under control and that she didn’t have anything to worry about. After all, if she had run this place for years without having a breakdown like this for ages, what did she really need to worry about?

Apparently she had misjudged herself. Apparently not all the emotions had been purged. The ones from the past. Her distant fears...

She shook her head, trying to banish those thoughts. She told herself over and over again that Rudy was paying the price for what he had done and that she was doing whatever she could to ensure that the other zoners did not suffer Snap’s fate. That should be good enough to settle down her thoughts and to give her a sense of security. There was no reason to be upset at this point.

So why was she still clinging onto something like this? Why were these thoughts still trying to resurface? The thought made her feel uneasy and she curled inward towards herself, fumbling with her fingers as she stared down at the cup of coffee that she had made for herself. Despite being surrounded by her Real World home, with the muted television screen blaring against her face, she still felt as though she was being watched by some zoner, one that knew more of what happened than she had let on.

Penny reached her shaking hands down towards the cup of coffee and lifted it up. She proceeded to drink it slowly, letting the hot fluid move down her throat. She flinched a little as the drink was a bit too hot for her taste. But that did not stop her from still drinking it anyway. It was like she had a sort of masochist temptation to hurt herself, to let herself feel a bit of pain. Was this a result of that hallucination? Or was it just her old desires coming to the surface, taking on a new form? No matter how many times she tried to tell herself that it wasn’t her fault that Snap died, a part of her would always disagree.

Penny looked over at the television, watching calmly as the news reel went on through. She blinked slowly as she tried to register the images on the screen. She thought she noticed that her vision became a bit blurry and unfocused and it took a few moments for her to settle down. And yet she still did not tear away from the screen.

There seemed to be some panicking people, horrified and scared of something. Then some person in a medical bed....no, a stretcher, was being wheeled away. There was fire and smoke pillowing outward, and Penny thought she could smell smoke dancing around her nostrils. She shook her head a little and attempted to look away.

That was when she noticed something in the corner of her eyes.

Slowly shifting her head, she saw there was another stretcher coming out, and when she noticed the size and shape of this person, she recalled the first one. Thin and tall... now roundish and having more weight... Penny let these thoughts dance around her head a little as she watched the events unfold in front of her. She saw a group of firefighters trying to put out what she realized was a huge inferno and as she stared, there was some sort of familiarity to the color of the building.

Her eyes immediately wished, giving off a flash of horror.

Wasn’t that the Tabootie’s house? Rudy’s parents... Were they....?

Penny gave another hard shake of her head as she put her hand to her face. Her other one felt so weak that she was surprised that she hadn’t dropped the cup of coffee already. She looked at it with wide eyes before staring back at the screen, huffing and puffing a little as she realized what had happened. That was when she finally saw the headline.

‘Two People Killed In A Fire’

Penny stared at this title long and hard as she realized what it meant, what the implications were. She licked her lips slowly and pressed her teeth against her lip firmly. She could feel her throat going a little more dry and she swallowed hard, feeling the lump slowly moving down the inside of her throat. She turned her gaze down, ignoring the flashing lights in front of her, not wanting to see more of what had happened. The realization of what happened slowly dawned in her mind.

Rudy’s parents were killed in a fire...

So many thoughts raced through her head at this point. She felt a bitter bile rising up and she had to swallow to knock it back down. Thoughts of what could have happened, if something else could have gone different, realizing there may have been things she wanted to tell them but now never will, all this and more became prominent in her mind. She felt her body giving off an uneasy shake and she gave another bitter swallow. She felt a burning sensation in the back of her eyes and she tried to think of what she should do next.

Should she inform Rudy? That was the first immediate question that came to her mind. And the answer was going to be more complicated than she thought. Despite her....complicated relationship with the boy, even she had to agree that he did deserve to know what happened to his parents.

But how would he react to that? Would he be mentally stable? Would he try to do anything to her? Would he blame her for this? He already attempted to blame her for Snap’s death. He would surely blame her for this.

And then what after that? Would he try to attack her? Would he become so bold as he would try to inflict pain upon her? Despite what he must know was correct? Rudy might become irrational. These were his parents after all. She herself could feel sad for their deaths. They were not just random adults. They were sort of...friends of hers, even if there was some distancing over the years after Rudy’s ‘death’. But Rudy himself had a stronger bond with them. If he found out that they died....

Penny furrowed her eyes a little. Perhaps it might be best of Rudy didn’t know. At least....not yet. Besides, why should she care if he had to live in ignorance a little while? She gave a bitter chuckle at this. She had no reason to be that fast about telling him what happened to his mom and dad. How would he even find out, anyway?

But even with those thoughts in mind, she couldn’t fully let go of what happened regarding Rudy’s parents. She still felt a pang in her stomach and she had to carefully rub it to try to calm herself down. Despite knowing that she didn’t set the fire, there was a tiny part of her who did have some blame for herself. Could her keeping Rudy and lying to them about their son’s ‘death’ have a role to play in this as well....?

She snarled softly and shook the thought out of her head. There was little reason for her to be so focused on that. What did it matter now, anyway? They were gone and that was all there was to it.

Penny looked down at her cup of coffee, reached down, and drank it loudly, finishing it off with one fell swoop. She wiped her mouth off, stared over at the television one last time, before she got up and headed towards the bathroom. She might as well take a shower. It would help her get her mind off of things.

sss

Skrawl could feel his eyes narrowing slowly as he stared upon the screen, slowly registering what had happened. Though it wasn’t much, the reveal of Rudy’s parents being dead.... It did resonate something inside of him. A conflicting set of emotions that he didn’t think were possible, but in the end, it made sense.

After all, someone ‘created’ Rudy.

And that was his parents.

The boy had lost his parents, his ‘creators’, just today, and he would be willing to bet that these same people had no clue that their ‘creation’ was still alive. They must have gone through year after year believing that their son vanished, died and killed by someone or something, whatever the Chalk Queen had told them. He imagined that they probably fell into a deep depression and ultimately died from the loss. For all he knew, that fire was likely caused by neglectfulness, or even deliberance.

This was something that he would not have known if it had not been for this camera Craniac gave him, allowing him to see through into the other dimension to watch Penny in silence, without fear of her finding out about him as she couldn’t walk right up to him nor could he make any noise that she would hear. But a part of him wondered if he should have found out this one detail and if he should even do something about it.

This was something that gave him pause. He shifted his gaze down and rubbed his chin thoughtfully, moving his fingers slowly against his skin. He could choose to ignore it, but would that be possible? Something this big would have such a huge impact on Rudy should he find out. Perhaps it would be...useful?

Then he gave pause. Should he even use something like this against Rudy? Would it be right of him? He scoffed at the thought. Since when did he care about that? But then again, considering how Penny treated him, how he had his own issues with her....

Slowly the large jellybean zoner could feel pieces of a plan starting to fall into place. He could feel the thoughts continuing to surge in his head, refusing to let him go, refusing to let him, and forcing him to face the same thoughts repeatedly. The more that they were told in his head, the more intriguing it felt and the more drawn in he became. He had wanted for a way to start undoing Penny’s work as a form of punishment for how she was keeping secrets from him as well as to make sure that he was the driving force behind ChalkZone. He had originally planned on doing so by revealing to the zoners that Penny had kept Rudy as her prisoner this entire time.

But maybe he’s found something better to start off with. Something that might be more impactful and perhaps begin a decline with Penny, drive her insane and start to eat away at her. The thought brought a smirk to his face, stretching his lips upward as his yellow teeth got more exposed in a grin.

Figuring out when to strike was not going to be easy. He didn’t even know if the Chalk Queen was going to tell Rudy or not herself. But if he waited, and if she still said nothing, then he could use it to his advantageous. He could even twist a few words to try to get more of a response from Rudy. It might seem that he learned to be afraid of Penny and obey her like a frightened dog. But deep down, he knew that Rudy must still be surging with emotion, rattling through him and making him want to lash out. It was fear that blocked this, but if he overpowered that fear with rage....

Skrawl released a few small chuckles before turning off the device. He had seen enough for now and he was starting to get tired. He let out a small yawn as he turned and started to make his way towards his room. He would have time to set everything up later.

sss

Penny let out a small sigh of satisfaction. She pulled back the curtains and stepped out of the shower. She took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, grabbing the nearby red towel and started to dry herself off.

That’s exactly what she needed. A nice hot shower to help herself relax. She had enjoyed the feel of the warm water hitting against her and the steam in the air that it created, making it feel like a cuddly blanket was being wrapped around her. She felt her tensions, a good portion of them anyway, melting down from her body and dripping out through her fingertips.

Granted, there were still some worrying thoughts plaguing her mind, but they had diminished at this point and the ones that were gone.... She tried not to think too much on it, knowing that she might end up making the situation worse for herself. She had just relaxed. She didn’t want to stress herself out even more. She managed to get herself to calm down through drawing in a few breaths, through the mouth and out through the nose. This helped her heart rate to slow down and she felt herself starting to relax.

After drying herself off, she walked towards the mirror. The face reflecting back at her still looked distorted and slightly twisted. This was due to the cracks that formed on it. She hadn’t managed to replace the mirror yet so she was stuck with this. Oh well, it would do.

She wrapped herself in her pajama robes first before she went back to the mirror to proceed washing her face. She turned on the faucet, cupped her hands, and let the water fill it up. She then splashed it against her face, ignoring the cold chill that moved down her skin. She shook her head and wiped her face off, and she proceeded to grab some soap. She looked back at the mirror and...

She froze as she noticed something shining back at her. Something that wasn’t there before. A familiar shape of blue, distorted by red that appeared to creep all over the body and clothes that looked like they had gone through the shredder.

Snap...?

Penny whirled her head behind her to see where the zoner was. There was no one behind her, much to her horror. No matter which way she turned her head, she could not find anyone there. It was as though ‘Snap’ had escaped. Through the door, maybe? She...

No, this wasn’t real. ‘Snap’ wasn’t real. At least, not the one that she had seen. This was just another hallucination. She ground her teeth together tightly and shut her eyes firmly. She just had to reminding herself of reality, to reaffirm that Snap, the real one, was dead and could not be here. She took in a few shaky breaths and only just barely started to push back against these thoughts. Maybe if she just held still here, it would all go away.

But she was wrong. When she looked back at the mirror, there ‘Snap’ still was, glowering at her with those razor sharp white eyes, his destroyed body looking even more horrific, blood oozing down from various locations. Penny felt her hand going to her mouth as she struggled to hold back a horrified gasp.

“Are you still pretending? Are you still trying to hide from the guilt that you know you are deserving of?”

Penny couldn’t bring herself to answer. She just continued to stare in horror at the reflection of her dead friend, somehow even more terrifying when placed against broken glass.

‘Snap’ continued his little rant. “I would have thought better of you. But you just keep proving my point, don’t you? I see you like to play a game of hide and seek with your emotions and your memories. You want to make yourself believe that you have nothing to be sorry for. You want to twist your memories into something that they never were.” His eyes narrowed a little more deeply. “You are just deluding yourself.”

Penny moved back, her hands raised up and her fingers flexing a little. Her mind raced, struggling to think of what she could do. Her first instinct was to charge at the mirror and strike it down, to tear down the reflection of ‘Snap’ that stared so intently at her. But she knew that this would not be a good idea and she could feel her eyes darting to the side. She felt her leg muscles tightening and stretching in response.

“You are thinking of running away? Of course you are. That’s all you are good at, isn’t it?” ‘Snap’ twisted his head in an almost unnatural way. He looked almost like an owl and Penny thought she could hear bones cracking inside of his neck, sending a shudder through her spine. “That’s all you’re good for now, aren’t you, Buckette?”

Penny’s body trembled hard at this. She looked around left and right, twisting her neck almost violently in the process. She looked back at ‘Snap’ as she continued to have trouble breathing. Everything looked hazy and dizzy and she felt herself wobbling a little. So much of her internally was building up to strike out at the mirror like last time. But seeing this twisted version of her dead friend staring at her almost gleefully, she felt terrified of trying to attack. What if this hallucination turned into reality and came right after her?

Despite her logical side knowing how ridiculous this was, Penny still found herself turning around and making a run for it. She kept running, unsure of where she was going, and she only stopped when she felt her feet sleeping on a hard floor, making her realize that she had gone into the kitchen. She tried to stop herself, only to feel her feet continue to sleep and cause her legs to nearly spread out in a rather painful fashion. Penny let out a small yelp as she grabbed onto a nearby chair and held on tightly.

Slowly, she started to pull herself up, still panting heavily, her heart rate beating against her chest, as her wide, bulging eyes looked downward. She started to feel unusually heavy as she leaned up like this and she could feel sweat and tears covering her face. She gave a few sniffles and she rubbed her nose. She tried to shake off her crying this time, no wanting to fall into the heavy emotional state that she had been in before.

It was just another hallucination, she told herself. It was just another trick of the mind and she shouldn’t allow it to consume her. She shouldn’t let it take form or have any sort of control over her. That ‘Snap’ she had seen was not her long lost friend. It was just a figment of her imagination. It was only her guilt trying to call her out. It was the result of stress, she was certain. She just needed a little bit of rest. All she had to do to put this ugly mess behind her was to head to bed. A good night’s sleep would refresh her mind and that stupid hallucination would be gone.

Penny reached her hand forward, preparing to grip the table to help move herself forward. Her legs felt stiff and a little rigid, forcing her to rely on walking so slowly, so...

Suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her hand. She seethed through clenched teeth as she stifled a scream of pain. She pulled her hand back and she stared at it. She could see the gash that cut along her palm, the blood seeping out of it, warm and sticky, the iron-like scent taunting her. She could see her hand shaking from the pain and shock as she held it tightly, squeezing it by the wrist. She felt tears of pain moving down her cheeks before she forced herself to look up at the table to see what had happened.

She had forgotten that she had placed the utensil holder on the table. She had forgotten about the large knives placed there. One of these knives was caked in her blood around the edges. She realized that, by reaching forward too fast and without looking, she ended up slicing her palm open. She shut her eyes tightly, flinching, cradling her hand to herself.

Of all the rotten luck... But then again, she did...sort of deserve this, didn’t she? A small part of her gradually grew more vocal, chastising her for what she had done, proclaiming this to be a form of justice being bestowed upon her.

She shouldn’t run away from the pain. She should embrace it. That’s what Snap would have wanted, right?

Penny wasn’t sure exactly where these thoughts were coming from, but they weren’t stopping. She could feel her mouth starting to twist upwards, almost crazy-like, and she gave a few small chortles. She grabbed onto the knife that had her blood on it and she raised it up. She stared at the blade, smirking at the reflection that shined off of the metal, before bringing the knife to her arm. She hardly hesitated when she pushed hard enough to pierce the flesh and then forced it upwards, creating a new gash.

The rush of pain that struck through her arm was enough to cause her to scream in pain and drop the knife. It was in that moment that whatever had gotten a hold of her started to melt away and she slowly realized what she had done. Horror caused her blood turn into ice and she felt herself collapsing on the ground, like she had before. She took a moment to look at her gashed up hand and arm, her mind now filling up with the color of crimson, and she felt herself starting to whimper.

Just what the hell was wrong with her...?


	9. The Seed

“What the h... What the hell happened, Penny?!”

“Mother, just...”

“Please tell me what happened!”

“...I don’t want to talk about it. Can you please just fix it?”

“Penny...”

“Please, just do it already!”

Penny growled softly under her breath as she glared directly at her mother. She had hoped that this would have been an in and out procedure. But it would seem that her mother had other ideas. As soon as she saw these injuries...

It wasn’t like she could blame her, though. Of course her mother would worry profusely about these injuries. Of course she would dote over her and try to figure out what was wrong. That’s just what mothers did.

But Penny could not tell her mom exactly what happened. It could inadvertently lead to her spilling out something that she shouldn’t, and her mom might became aware or at least suspect that something else was going on. She couldn’t tell her about her hallucinations of Snap. She couldn’t tell her why this was the case. She couldn’t tell her anything that might lead her to finding out that Rudy was still alive.

There was only one thing that she could tell her.

“All that happened is that I slipped and fell. That’s it.” Penny used her good, uninjured arm, and struck outwards to one side. “It was nothing all that serious. All I want now is to have my wounds treated and you’re the nearest doctor I know, so...”

Her mother looked at her with widened eyes, still clearly shocked from seeing what happened to her daughter. No amount of reassurance was going to get that woman to close her mouth. Only time would and Penny just had to sit there and wait. If she tried to hurry her mother along, she might get suspicious.

“Penny...this looks really bad. Y-You sure it was an accident?” Her mother whispered, her eyes moving along Penny’s arm, examining it.

“Yes, mama!” Penny snapped. “Please just...!” She stopped herself. She closed her eyes lightly and drew in a few deep breaths. After settling herself down, she said, “Please, the pain’s getting worse. I just want some bandages and medicine. Can you take care of that for me?”

Her mother opened her mouth to speak, as though wanting to try to get more information out of her. But she soon closed her mouth, thinking better of it, and she went to do what her daughter asked of her. Penny could feel herself relaxing, the frustration that she was originally feeling finally going away.

Penny tried not to flinch when she could feel her mother start to clean her wound. The warm, soapy water was mostly gentle save for a few stings. But the disinfectant spray was horrible, causing her to cry out in pain. But it was something that was needed and she held still for it. She ignored the burning pain that shot up and down her injured arm, from hand to shoulder. She kept her head turned away until her mother was done with the cleaning project. She glanced down at the arm and noted that it definitely looked better than before.

Seconds later, her mom came over with some more medicine as well as some bandages. Penny held herself as still as possible as her mother started to apply the clear, soft medicine to her injuries. Once the gases were coated, her mother started to wrap her up in bandages, pressing the cloth firmly against her arm, securing her wounds and keeping them safe from the fresh air until later. Penny examined her arm, turning it from side to side and up and down, before she rested her arm to her side and nodded her head to her mom.

“Thanks for the help, mama.” Penny said as she pushed herself off of the examination table. “I should get going now.”

“Wait!” Her mother called out to her. She reached out her hand as though to try to grab her and pull her back. Penny paused and looked over her shoulder, raising an eyebrow slowly. “....those really need to be stitched up. You should come with me to the hospital right away to have that taken care of. It’s just going to get worse.”

Penny knew that her mother was right. But she didn’t want to waste too much more time here. She had to get into ChalkZone. Skrawl was going to be suspicious if she didn’t show up soon, and she imagined that so would Rudy. As much as she didn’t want to give her mother any more reason to worry or fret, she didn’t have much of a choice but to leave.

“I’m sorry, but I do need to go.” Penny told her. She turned her head a little way, but she was still able to give her mother a backwards glance. “I’ll worry about it later.”

“You know you can’t do that! The infection will spread!” Her mother shouted at her. There was a tinge of fear in her voice, which was enough to make Penny shudder and feel a small pang, one that she could not simply ignore so easily. “Please, Penny.... I can respect that you didn’t want to go with me the other day, but you can’t just push me aside like this when you need help... Just let me take you to a hospital so that your wounds can be treated and stitched up. Please...”

Penny hesitated for several moments. She knew what the right thing was, and looking over, she could see the look of fear and desperation in her mother’s eyes. Her walking away like this would just be insensitive and horrible. She doubted that she was going to feel good about herself doing this.

But in the end, did she really have a choice? She had to maintain some kind of presence in ChalkZone and if Skrawl was given any reason to believe that she was shirking her duties...

“I’m sorry, mother.” Penny said. She looked at her distraught and worried mother sadly, exchanging glances with her. “But... I....” She couldn’t think of how to continue. She ended up slowly turning around and walking away, ignoring the cries of desperation called out by her worried mom.

sss

“Oh there you are! I thought that…” Skrawl immediately stopped when he took notice of Penny’s arm. He stared at it for a few seconds before his eyes furrowed a little deeply. He lifted his head up to stare at Penny in the eyes. “Mind telling me what this is all about?”

Penny merely shrugged her shoulders. “It’s nothing, King Skrawl. Just a little mishap. It’s nothing that you need to worry your pretty little head over.”

Skrawl snapped his head back a little and growled at this statement. It was quite amusing to watch. It served as a reminder to Penny just how much Skrawl hated to be referred to anything cute-like. She supposed it was because he was still trying to garner respect from the zoners and he probably thought that he couldn’t do that if he was ‘cute’. She merely shrugged her shoulders at this before she continued to move her way down the hallway.

She tried not to flinch as a jolt of pain moved up her arm. She clutched her arm to herself a little, and she started to internally chastise herself for not going to her mother sooner for help. She had just barely patched it up, stopped the bleeding, and went to sleep. But she did realize that in doing so, she might have created a landscape for infection. Her mother might have taken care of it now, but a small part of her feared that something could still happen.

But she tried not to let herself get too drawn into that. It was not going to help her all that much if she worried about it to the point of neglecting everything else. So with a sigh being forced from her lips, she started to head down Skrawl’s meeting room.

What about Rudy? She would deal with him later. After being absent for longer than she had intended, for reasons that she would not dare admit were her own fault, Penny wanted to make sure that she still held strongly onto the influence that she had. Plus, she didn’t want Skrawl to become any more suspicious than she imagined he already was.

She could practically feel Skrawl moving in behind her. She didn’t bother looking over; she could see the shadow that Skrawl was casting moving over her body, covering her up in a dark shade. She could feel herself starting to shudder a little but she pushed that off quickly. She ignored the sensation that Skrawl’s large form was producing, ignoring the weight that it was producing. Skrawl probably wanted to intimidate her as it meant that he could make an effort to try to steal away the throne from her. Or rather, make it so that only he was ruler. She would not give him a reason to think that it was possible.

At least getting to the meeting room didn’t take that long. She could feel herself letting out a small sigh of relief as she stepped into the room. She pushed the doors open quickly and loudly, hearing Skrawl practically bang into them as he walked over. She chuckled to herself, but continued her way towards the table.

And there, she could see her tall chair, the one specifically drawn for her, that she herself had made. She lifted her head up a little higher and she could see that Courtney was comfortably perched at the top. She was preening her feathers, raising her wings slightly to get the job done. Penny smiled up at the bird before proceeding to sit down in the chair.

As she sat down, she couldn’t help but feel a bit powerful like this. Her chair was already taller than Skrawl’s as it was. But with Courtney, it made her feel even stronger. It gave the illusion that she had the most power and influence, which was the case. Skrawl largely relied on her to get things done and she could see the frustration in his eyes and facial expressions. She couldn’t help but smile and chuckle at his misfortune, at him having to realize that his dream of having her as a sidekick did not come into fruition how he would have wanted it.

But she didn’t come here to taunt Skrawl or to mock him on his lack of power. There was something of more importance to take care of here.

And that was to see the status of what was going on with ChalkZone.

Skrawl didn’t bother sitting down at this point. He instead moved over to the side of the table and he used a claw to press up against a button that Penny could not see. The table itself came to life, lighting up with three dimensional holograms, depicting ChalkZone itself, a massive globe spinning around in chalk space. And while it was possible to zoom out, Skrawl zoomed in, signaling out one particular spot, ChalkZone City.

Though it also helped that ChalkZone City was one of the few places fully mapped out on this thing. It needed a lot of work.

Penny furrowed her eyes slightly as Skrawl did this, wondering what he was going to talk about this time. It would be difficult to see what was really going on since this was only a model and not live footage. But Skrawl would only zoom in so fast like this if there was an issue and something told her that Howdy’s actions might have set off a domino effect in some other zoners here.

And if that’s the case, that was particularly worrisome. Most of the acts of rebellion were happening outside of ChalkZone City. She had that city so under control that it was difficult for anyone to do anything and getting away with it. But due to the number of zoners, if more and more of them started to rebel…

“There’s been increased activity with the baker’s factory as of late.” Skrawl said. He used his claws to digitally manipulate the map, bringing it in even closer to allow Penny to see th the familiar shape and internal lay out take form. “I do not know if this has anything to do with Howdy’s actions….unless he said something to you?” He gave Penny a sideways glance.

Penny shook her head slowly. “No, not really. At least nothing like this.” Penny took a moment to look at the baker’s factory before looking back at Skrawl. “Howdy was working for Red Facial Hair and I took care of him.” She held her hand up in gesture. “I don’t think his crew will do much without him and they’re more about seafaring crimes than anything. Red Facial Hair’s move was seen as unorthodox and strange, even by his crew’s standards.” She lowered her hand down, keeping her expression firm. “I would imagine that they would return to those roots in their leader’s absence.”

“But wouldn’t they want to avenge him?” Skrawl inquired. He scratched his chin lightly with one claw. “After all, if they learned what you did and if they were loyal…”

Penny curled her fingers against her palm and pressed her knuckles near her mouth, releasing a few small chuckles as she stared at Skrawl as though he had gone crazy. Skrawl looked at her, flabbergasted by this. Penny did not leave him in the dark for too long. “Oh you poor dear, you don’t know, do you? From what Howdy hinted at, Red Facial Hair was already going to suffer a mutiny; his dealings with Howdy were an attempt to avoid that fate. But he got a much more...deserving one, don’t you think?”

Skrawl leaned slightly away from her and gave a quick shudder. That was all he needed to do for Penny to understand the context and she couldn’t help but chuckle again. Skrawl stared at her with slightly widened eyes before he shook his head and he turned his attention back to the map.

“Well anyway…” Skrawl said as he went on to continue. Penny watched intently, resting her chin on her hands and leaning forward. “This seems like a separate incident all on its own. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. Almost like they are trying to draw in attention.” Skrawl moved his claw up to show the front door of the factory. “Right around here, the bakers had assaulted some zoners minding their own business.”

Penny raised an eyebrow at this. “They assaulted them?” She repeated, the words feeling foreign on her tongue. This wasn’t something that she would have associated with the peaceful bakers.

Skrawl turned his head to look at her. “Well they used pies….but regardless, they still attacked some zoners.”

Penny tilted her head to one side. “If they were only using pies, then I imagine the zoners weren’t hurt, right?”

“Well I suppose not.” Skrawl admitted. “But it’s still a big concern. There’s nothing to suggest what could have brought this out. What if they using something more dangerous? What if other zoners started to mimic them?” Skrawl furrowed his eyes deeply as he turned himself around slowly, staring intently at Penny. His emotions were becoming raw and solid and easily felt in the air. “Try to imagine if every zoner was becoming unpredictable?”

“That...would be a concern. But I’m not sure why you are acting like this is a huge problem.” Penny said, trying to sound as calm as possible. “They will always be dealt with swiftly. In fact, I should get up and deal with those zoners myself.” She proceeded to move herself around to get up. But she stopped when she saw Skrawl raising his hand up quickly, stopping her in her tracks. “What is it now?”

“There’s a reason to fear the unpredictable, my queen. If every zoner acted this way, then how are we going to prepare?” Skrawl motioned to himself. “If every zoner was a ticking time bomb, or at least more and more acted this way, we will be caught off guard and we won’t know what to do, because we won’t know what to expect.” He paused for a moment as if to let Penny dwell on this fact. Then he said, “Now imagine the idea that they are doing this on purpose… It’s a strategy…. One that we would usually ignore and they will take advantageous of it. And then…”

Penny could feel her eyes widening at this, a small gasp entering her mouth as she realized the truth behind Skrawl’s words. She turned and she stared at him with her mouth hanging open, a sense of horror starting to cling to the back of her head. Everything that he said, it was making sense. She looked down, her mind swimming with thoughts.

Skrawl was right. Something did need to be done about this, and fast. The zoners could take advantage of this situation and get things done simply because she and Skrawl did not think it was too serious. She knew from reading on history that one of the ways a leader could be overthrown was from them underestimating what the ‘lesser power’ were capable of. Penny realized that she had gotten so comfortable sitting at the top that she failed to realize that the zoners might be starting to outwit her.

Was this a result of her being so focused on Rudy? Of that Snap hallucination? Was she getting her attention so divided that she was failing to see the smaller pieces all around her? Were the zoners playing her like she was some kind of a fucking tool?

She growled softly. She narrowed her eyes and she felt her hands forming into small, lightly pressured fists. She was not going to allow that to be the case any longer.

“Come with me, Skrawl.” Penny said as she stared intently at the jellybean zoner. “We are going to take care of this problem now.” She said not a word as she started to get up and leave the room.

sss

Letting out a small groan, Rudy looked down at the chain that still connected him to the ground. He could still feel the metal band pressing up against his throat, nearly choking him to death. He gritted his teeth tightly as he gave a small tug. Just like he thought, it didn’t give any sort of budge. Why would it? Penny probably went out of her way to make sure that he couldn’t break himself free. He never could do it after all these years, anyway. So why should he expect anything different nowadays?

He let out a small sigh as he lowered himself to the ground. Trying to get some rest was pretty difficult here, but what else could he do? Penny was leaving him alone at the moment. She had not yet shown up to ‘play’ with him. He wondered if she was giving him a break this time. The thought immediately caused him to scoff. Yeah, right…

It was more likely that her attention was diverted for the moment. Penny was probably dealing with something else. Likely another zoner incident.

The thought of that caused his teeth to grit slightly. He pushed back his fears enough to feel some anger towards Penny regarding what she had done lately. The biggest shock to him was the fact that she had flatout murdered a zoner. This was something that he hadn’t realized she would do. He thought that she was just content with imprisoning zoners. But to deliberately take a life…? That didn’t sound like the Penny that he once knew. But in the end, the real Penny died many years ago, didn’t she?

Rudy could feel his body shaking as he thought about that day. He shut his eyes tightly, but his mind’s eyes would not leave him alone. He was constantly tormented by the visions of the past. He could see how enraged Penny was with him, he could hear Snap’s scream of pain, and he could see Penny striking down at him with her bat made of diamond.

Rudy let out a small cry and opened up his widening eyes, shaking his head as he tried to get those horrid memories out of his mind. He rubbed his head a little and he turned to look down at his damaged leg. He bit his lip as he grabbed his pant leg and rolled it up some more, carefully easing it over his thigh so that he could get a good look at it. He flinched when he saw the dark mark that still remained, a permanent bruise as a horrific reminder of what happened in the past. Rudy had to force himself to look away.

That darn, stupid leg… If he didn’t have it, he might have a better chance at escaping. Trying to hop on one leg was better than dragging himself with a damaged one. If he tried to stand up, he would only collapse down in pain. He would only hurt himself more. Not to mention if Penny saw him trying to walk away like this…

But Penny wasn’t here right now, was she…?

Rudy took a moment to look over at the door. He still felt fear clumping in his throat as he imagined Penny opening the door. Even if there was no evidence of that, Rudy’s mind was still preparing for it. He could still feel himself shaking a little as he imagined all that Penny might do to him, how she might tear him apart if she saw him so much as touch the bars of his cage. Trying to escape right now would be a risky move.

And yet some of the best choices in life were risks, right? For all he knew, Penny might not be back for hours. And all he would need to do was just grab a piece of magic chalk that she kept locked away. It would be as simple as that.

But the very idea of doing something that would piss off Penny… He felt his body shaking harder and harder at this thought. He couldn’t make himself not see that face glaring at her, her muscles contorting and showing signs of anger. He could not stop seeing those dark brown eyes, once filled with care but now filled with darkness, glowering down at him.

He… He couldn’t really do that, could he…? Penny’s influence still weighed upon him. She had shown that she was willing to do what she threatened. She had warned him many times not to try to escape. He could still feel the pain radiating from his leg as he recalled how she grabbed and tried to twist his leg, almost as if she wanted to break it again. Rudy instinctively curled his leg in towards himself and gave off a small whimper. He couldn’t bring himself to do something like that if it meant….

This was a coward’s move, he knew. Choosing to not do anything for the sake of keeping himself painless. He didn’t mean to be this way. He didn’t want to curl up and play it quits. He knew how much ChalkZone must be suffering. The very thought of giving up on everything was enough to make him start crying.

He just didn’t know what to do. Every time he thought of trying something, he could feel his mind going into a lock that prevented him from being able to do anything. He could feel a squirting surge of emotion striking against his head and he could feel his heartbeat increasing and adrenaline burning inside of his chest. He wasn’t sure how much more he could stand this before he got so sick that he started to throw up.

But...nothing was going to be gained if he stood here doing nothing. He was only going to further validate Penny, surrendering to her will and letting her keep ruling ChalkZone. It was him holding still and not knowing what to do that helped to bring about Snap’s demise. The memory caused him to nearly choke on a small cry. Was he going to let this same thing happen to other zoners? Or was he going to actually try to do something about it?

Rudy felt his eyes start to narrow slightly. He turned his head towards the cage door that kept him locked in. Then he turned his head down to look at the metal cuff that clung to him. He took another moment to look to see if Penny was coming, and then he went down to do something that he had previously been too locked up in petrifying fear to try.

He started to bite down on the chains. They were still made out of chalk. His saliva was starting to deteriorate the material. It was painfully slow and grueling, but if he kept up at this rate, if he continued to gnaw on the chains as though they were some kind of a delicious steak meal or something, then maybe he would be able to…

As his mouth filled up rapidly with the taste of chalk, he silently hoped that Penny would not decide to come and ‘visit’ him anytime soon.

But given his luck…

He tried not to let himself think about that too much as he continued to grind his teeth against the continuing weakening of the metal chain.

sss

“You think you’ve won? Think again! This is just the beginning, ‘queen’! You’ll see! This isn’t... Oof!”

Skrawl pushed the zoner’s head into the ground, gripping the back of it tightly. He pressed his claws against his skull, threatening to close down tightly. The jellybean zoner glared at his ‘prey’ with a look of contempt, his teeth bared and looking as though he was willing to take a bite out of this guy at any point. “You heard your queen! Stay down and keep quiet!”

Penny remained where she was standing, rolling her eyes slowly. She didn’t understand why this zoner was trying to be so defiant when he was in no position to do that. Yet there he was, squirming about on the ground as though he thought he really could escape. Even with Skrawl holding him down, the zoner was still making the effort. This was in spite of the fact that the rest of his friends were already taken care of.

It wasn’t even that difficult to do, either. All that she had to do was just create a tank to release gas into the building, and it forced them into two decisions. They could either stay and be knocked out, or they could run out but risk running into the enforcers as well as her and Skrawl. Neither were a pleasant choice for the baker zoners, but they realized that they had very little choice in the matter.

Some of the zoners were knocked out before they got out of the building. A few of them did manage to get out, but with the exception of one, they were caught by the enforcers. Their metallic robotic design made apprehending them rather easy. Penny turned her head to look at one and she couldn’t help but smile. Seeing the humanoid robots, built with a combination of metal sectioned limbs and twisted springs for flexibility, were doing well in holding down the pathetic, struggling bakers. This left only one and that was the one Skrawl managed to catch before he got away.

Said zoner glared up at her, his fingers clawing against the ground. “Just you wait! One of these days, someone will take you down!”

Penny raised up an eyebrow as she started to make her way over slowly, one hand on her hip. “I remember you... Aren’t you Lazlo? Head baker of this joint?” Penny stared at him carefully, noticing the slight ‘beard’ and the purplish tone that his body had. She leaned herself back a little and said, “Oh yes, you are. Isn’t that humorous?” She gave a slight smile. “So tell me, Lazlo, what’s the point of all of this? Why are you putting your fellow bakers in peril to have a go at some of the zoners here? What is your reasoning?”

Lazlo squirmed a little against Skrawl’s grasp. This was a fruitless effort. It wasn’t hard for Skrawl to push down on the zoner, holding him in place. Lazlo yelped when Skrawl pushed the side of his face down, squishing it a little. The purple stick figure zoner glared up at Penny with one eye, his teeth bared as though he was trying to look menacing. “These zoners needed a wake up call! They can’t just go on allowing you to destroy our lives like this! Y-You’re a monster and you need to be brought down!”

“I’m a creator.” Penny said, not very impressed with what the zoner stated. She cocked her head a little to one side. “How do you propose the zoners fight back against me?”

Lazlo started to smile. It was rather eerie and it was enough to make Penny shudder a little. She tried not to let herself get too creeped out by it, but it still sent a small shudder through her spine. It was clear that Lazlo had thought this through, and it made her wonder just what he had in mind. She waited in silence for him to respond.

“You’re still just one creator. How well do you think you’d do if a lot of zoners came at you at once?” Lazlo started to release a small chuckle. His smile grew more twisted, as though he was getting increasingly eager to ‘prove’ his point to Penny. “You might have us under control for now, but when all of us unite, when we’ve all have gotten tired of your shit, you’d better watch out. I doubt you can hold on forever when a million pissed off zoners try to tear you to shreds...”

Despite trying to control herself, Penny could feel her eyes widening anyway. She tried her best to shake it off and she just glared at the zoner. “That’s such a fantasy talk.”

But she knew that wasn’t the case. The zoner did make a valid point, one that was causing her hairs to raise on end. If the zoners did manage to cooperate in a singular attack, then would she be able to hold out against them? Could she protect herself from the surge of pissed off zoners? Being only one creator, she realized just how big of an issue that was going to be. She was going to need some help.

But what could she do? She couldn’t change the fact that she was just one creator. She couldn’t clone herself. Rudy would never help her nor would she want his help. She couldn’t drag her mother into this. She could just tighten down security even further, but wouldn’t that just make the zoners want to rebel more? That might add fuel to the fire. But at the same time, if she did nothing, then she was only allowing her own fall to happen. If the zoners managed to overpower her, then all that work... it would have been for nothing. She needed some way to help keep the zoners subdued. And Skrawl was not going to be good enough.

Then an idea came to her head. It caused her to freeze, feeling her body shudder at the thought. Could she really even consider the idea? Would she be able to go that level? Was it something that she could feel comfortable with doing?

But given the situation...

Penny swallowed hard, reeling from the bitterness in her mouth. She bit her lip firmly as her mind grew heavy from the thoughts weighing down upon her. She realized that this might be her best chance, regardless of how controversial it was. There were some people that she knew would be more than happy to find a way to keep the zoners under control. They had been wanting to ‘civilize’ ChalkZone for years.

Terry Bouffant and Vinnie Raton.

Slowly a smile started to creep along her face. This did not go unnoticed by Skrawl who looked at her strangely, and it especially did not escape the eyes of Lazlo, whose insane smile started to change, becoming weaker and more and more uncertain, was though he realized that something was up.

Penny didn’t waste time as she started to head towards the zoner on the ground. She moved deliberately slowly, her smile stretching at her facial muscles. She lowered herself to the ground, pressing her knee against the concrete underneath her. Then she reached her hand out towards the zoner and she grabbed onto his chin, tilting it upwards. The cries of his comrades weren’t enough to stop her as she smiled into his face.

“You know... You are right. I am just one creator. You zoners probably could pull me down, stop me from doing whatever it is you think I’m doing wrong.” Penny gave a few small chuckles as the zoner looked up at her with increasing fear on his face. “But you know, I do...know a few people. I’m sure they could help.”

“Wh-What do you mean...?” Lazlo asked, his voice a small whimper. He still tried to sound tough regardless, but it was laughably weak.

“I’m curious about this, too, Chalk Queen...” Skrawl raised his head up as he stared at Penny, his eyes starting to narrow a little further. “Just what are you thinking of?”

Penny just smiled at them.


	10. Chat With The Prisoner

Skrawl pointed his claw forward and gave a single shout. “Lock them up! I will deal with them later!”

The enforcer robots were quick to respond. Giving off a few beeps to communicate with each other, the baker zoners were dragged forward and effortlessly thrown into the room, becoming locked up together. They did try to find a way out, pounding against the bars and shouting and trying to threaten Skrawl. But none of that bothered the jellybean as he smirked at them. They were so pathetic.

But as much as he would love to focus on them and have a little fun with them, his mind shifted towards the Chalk Queen. He felt his eyes start to furrow slightly. Not wanting anyone to pester him at the moment, Skrawl turned and he began to walk away.

Those injuries that he had received, she claimed that it was ‘just an accident’, although she would not detail exactly how it happened. He could not even tell if they had been treated properly. It wouldn’t help her that the arm injured was her dominant one. If the infection spread too much...

He did smirk at the thought. This would be a good way of weakening her, and to make himself appear like the one in charge. This would help the zoners see him as the one that they should answer to.

At the same time, though, he did still need to be careful. The Chalk Queen being injured could spell trouble for him later on if he were too reckless. He might not be able to maintain this level of control if he were without a creator. The bakers did make a good point that only one creator might not work for long. But having Penny with him was still better than nothing. Rather than kill her, Skrawl simply wanted to turn her back to what she should have been in the first place.

A servant for him.

Which brought him to his next train of thought regarding her. Just what was that thought she had? What was that look that she was making? It made him feel uncomfortable, as though there was more that she was hiding. He did suspect that she might tell Rudy and if so, he could just wait until she went to visit him. There was no need to wait until her ‘special day’. He would imagine that she was on her way to him right now.

Whatever her thoughts were, he would still have to monitor it. Penny might be up to something that he would not approve of or something that could threaten his very position. He had a feeling that it must have something to do with more creators. The idea sounded insane, especially considering that she had gone out of her way to prevent further chances of a human coming into this world. Penny wanting to bring in another creator would just shatter that stance that she’s held for so long. If that is what she was doing, then Skrawl would be very confused. Why would she even...

But if she was fearful of losing power, then perhaps she would be willing to go a bit more extreme. Perhaps she would be willing to do things she normally would not just to maintain that. She did seem to like being in control, like it was giving her a sense of self confidence and reassurance. Maybe even proving to be a distraction to some certain...events.

So maybe her going to find some creators would make some sense. He still didn’t want to jump to conclusions right now, though. She might be wanting to do something else, or she could even just change her mind once she sees how big of an issue it really was.

Skrawl stopped for a moment as he shifted his head. He looked down one hallway and he noticed that it did look slightly familiar. The entrance of the hallway bore a striking resemblance to the one that Penny had gone down when he had watched her. It was a little hard to recognize it at first, given the fact that he was looking at it in a more complete manner. But there it was, plain as day. He remained still for a few moments, his eyes narrowing slowly, trying to figure out what he should do.

If this was the way to where Rudy was being held, he could head down himself. He could confront the boy and.... But what would he do? He honestly didn’t know. He wasn’t sure if he could bring himself to off him, especially if that was just going to anger Penny. Keeping him around may help him later on, and it wasn’t really him that he wanted to target, anyway. He had seen what Rudy was like. A bit broken and his leg was maimed. He was hardly much of a threat to him directly. Penny on the other hand....

He soon decided to back out of it. Right now, it was too risky. For all he knew, Penny might be there and if she spotted him at any point in that corridor, she might end up doing...something to him. He wasn’t sure what, but he was not eager to find out.

After he took a few steps, he suddenly paused. He did have a way of getting the information, did he not? He would be able to tell where Penny was and whether or not it was safe for him to go down. If he acted quickly...

Skrawl took out the monitor and glanced down at it. He adjusted the buttons to turn it on and a picture rapidly came into view. He waited for the static and wavy lines to disappear and then he leaned in a little closer, furrowing his eyes and gritting his teeth slightly. He could see something moving, indicating Penny was on the move. But just where was she?

It took a few moments before Skrawl could see that Penny was outside somewhere, the sky being a light blue. At first, he thought that she was out in one of the Day Zone sections of ChalkZone. But upon closer inspection, he noticed that the sky looked far more detailed than what would be in ChalkZone and there was a distinct lack of chalkiness texture to it. Skrawl soon realized that Penny was in the Real World right now.

While a part of him wanted to keep watching to see if his hunch had been right, the other, too strongly energized by this one chance that he had, was more concerned about having a little ‘chat’ with Rudy. He didn’t know exactly what he was going to do yet, but he was going to figure out some way to start planting the seeds required to turn things around. A smile spread along his face.

Skrawl looked left and right to make sure that no one was there and then he proceeded down the hallway. He had to struggle to remember which way it went and how to get down, but considering it was a straight shot, it wasn’t that difficult. It was more just remembering where the hidden section was, the area that looked like a wall but really was not. Though he could not remember if it was straight ahead at the very end or if there was a portion on the side that he needed to turn on.

Just to make sure, he did drag his hands along the sides of the walls as he went down. He was careful not to let his claws scrape the walls, and he felt all around. He felt around for anything abnormal, anything that felt out of place. Even though nothing was happening yet, that did not mean that something else would not later.

Okay so it was up against the very end of the tunnel like he originally thought, not on the walls. Oh well, close enough.

Skrawl stared intently at the wall in front of him, furrowing his eyes as he tried to think of what he was going to do. Should he just walk on through? But what if Penny foresaw something like this happening and did something about it? What if this wall was dangerous? He could burn his fingers off if he weren’t careful. But he wouldn’t know until he tried to go through. So with his hand reaching outwards lowly, he shut his eyes tightly and he waited cautiously for the tip of his fingers to hit the wall.

Nothing happened. Well there was a bit of a tingly sensation, but nothing else beyond that. Biting his lip once, Skrawl forced himself to go through with a single wide step. The sensation was odd and he felt himself shuddering a little. But nonetheless, he was now on the other side.

Skrawl remained still for longer than he should have, just stunned by this accomplishment. He had force himself to head down the hallway once again. He could feel his heart starting to beat a little quicker as he realized that he was getting closer and closer to the room that held the so-called ‘dead Rudy’. He felt a bit of adrenaline and anxiety rushing up, realizing that he was doing something that his ‘queen’ would not approve of. But she was already getting to be more trouble than she was worth. Something needed to be done. He kept his eyes narrowed firmly as he went down.

There was the door that led into the room. He paused in front of it, looking at it up and down. He focused intently on the doorknob in front of him. He tapped his claw against his chin as he tried to think of what best way to go about this. Should he just try to open it or should he go about it slowly? Without much further thinking, he reached out and he carefully grabbed the doorknob and then...

...locked. Of course the Chalk Queen would do this. She would want to make sure that no one got in even if they did find this place. Well no matter. There were always ways of getting through. It was just a matter of having the right tools. He looked at his claws, giving a small smirk, before reaching one of them towards the lock and he began to pick at it.

The lock gave out a few loud clicks with each turn of his claw, although still remained firm where it was, refusing to give in to him. Skrawl glared at this, growling softly, and he started to twist his claw with more effort, pushing it in further in hopes of moving the tumblers around enough to make it open up. He could feel his finger and wrist starting to ache from the effort. He still did not give up. He just needed to keep this up for a little while longer.

Pop!

There it was opened up now. With that last click in place, he knew that it was successfully unlocked and now he could grab the doorknob to turn it. He did so slowly, not wanting to make a lot of noise. He moved in closer, peeking his head through the door as it opened up.

“S-Skrawl?! How did you...?!”

Skrawl looked down, seeing that Rudy had spotted him immediately. The boy looked like he was in the middle of chewing through his chains. Upon a sweeping inspection with his eyes, Skrawl could see that he had made good work on the chains. There was at least a noticeable dent in them and he might be able to break them if he tried hard enough. Rudy himself was frozen in place, his eyes filled with horror and confusion and fear. He looked almost like a statue, waiting for Skrawl to do something.

At the moment, Skrawl was overtaken by the rush of emotions that hit him upon seeing that his creator was still alive. It was one thing to see it through a monitor. It was another thing entirely to see him in person. Skrawl felt his body giving off a few shakes as he tried to think of what he was going to do now. Just how should he feel about this?

He couldn’t deny that there was a small part of him that was happy to see Rudy. He could not deny that a small part of him had missed him to some degree. Despite his flaws, he was still his creator. He still needed to be cautious with him, but just how dangerous could he be with that kind of leg and locked up like this? Heh, he could walk into the cage right now and start to kill him and Rudy would have very little way of defending himself.

But....no, he couldn’t do that. As much as he had dreamed of seeing Rudy captured and used as a slave, there was something about this whole setup here that made even him feel uneasy. Penny was using him for something here, that much was obvious. And he had a pretty good idea judging from a few particular details. He wasn’t sure if he was accurate but he would rather not think about it. The thought made him uncomfortable. Even he had never dreamed of doing something like that to Rudy.

But there was little time to just stand there and gawk at the boy or to process his emotions. Penny could still start to head back to the portal back into ChalkZone and he would be wise to not be here when that happens. He wiped off his uncertain facial expression and replaced it with a small smile, giving off a few chuckles. He started to take a few steps towards Rudy, folding his hands behind his back.

“Well well well.... Master Tabootie... It’s been such a long time.” Skrawl stopped a few feet in front of the cage. He stared at Rudy for a few moments before he twisted his head to one side. “How have you been...?”

Rudy looked confused and uncertain, as though he had no idea how to respond. He tried to reply but he only ended up stammering and stuttering. He took in a few quick breaths as though he was starting to panic, before he forced himself to inhale and exhale slowly. This helped him to calm down. He still looked at him like he was the most terrifying thing he’s ever seen.

Rudy then looked around himself, noticing that he still had the chains shoved into his mouth. He froze at this and then looked up at Skrawl. He swallowed hard and he hunched his body, letting the chains fall out of his mouth as a series of whimpers started to strike him. He curled up a little, something that gave Skrawl a bit of a mixed feeling. He had always wanted Rudy to submit to him, but the way that he was doing it here, he could see how truly terrified that he was. This was not how he expected things to go.

“P-Please don’t.... t-t-tell her... I-I’m so sorry...” Rudy whined, clenching his teeth in fear, his body shaking. “I won’t do it again... I-I promise...”

Skrawl stared at Rudy for a few seconds after that, his eyes slowly blinking. Then he started to smile again, making it look as twisted as possible to hide any other emotions underneath the surface. “Oh it’s quite fine, Master Tabootie. I have no intention on telling the Chalk Queen about this.” Skrawl motioned his hand outward with his hand. “This little meeting of ours, it’ll be our little secret, okay?”

Though still trembling and looking fearful, Rudy did manage to nod his head a little. The look in his eyes told Skrawl that he still did not believe him. But that was fine. The boy did not need to believe him for him to tell him anything.

Skrawl moved in a little closer. He didn’t attempt to unlock the door into the cage. He had a feeling that would just elicit a stronger reaction in Rudy. He wasn’t interested in giving him a heart attack or anything. So he remained out here, grabbing onto the bars and leaning in a little forward. He watched Rudy carefully, seeing how he looked ready to try to pull himself back to get away out of raw terror. Skrawl let himself give a small smirk at this before turning his head to one side, watching Rudy with a singular eye. He started to speak, the words flowing out of his mouth in a warm wisp of air.

“I see you’ve been well taken care of...” Skrawl commented, looking down at his hand to examine it, his claws pressing against his palm and then straightening out and flexing. “I’m surprised you look that well after fifteen years...”

“I-It’s been that long...?” Rudy gasped dryly, sounding genuinely shocked.

“Oh yes....” Skrawl looked back at him, nodding a few times to confirm. “Which makes you.... what do you humans call it... at the age of twenty five.” He could see the look of shock in Rudy’s eyes. “ Time really does fly, does it not? One minute, you are trying to stop me from unleashing my plan to use Penny to take over ChalkZone and then...” He tilted his head upwards, spreading his hand out as though to encompass everything. “....you wake up and you are here, surrounded by these walls, unable to stop what has happened...” Skrawl’s smile stretched slightly as he tilted his head down and looked over at Rudy. “I have to wonder how it must feel for you.”

Rudy was trying to glare at him. It was a weak effort, wobbly and twitchy. He could see the underlining fear that the boy was trying to hide. He could see the tears that started to form in the boy’s eyes. Seeing him on the verge of crying would have seemed surprising in the past. But considering the fact that Rudy had been forced in these conditions for so long, considering what Penny had been doing with him, it was hardly surprising to see him moved to tears so fast. There were already other emotions he was certain were pestering Rudy. All his words were doing was just starting to push him over that edge.

“But I am not here to toy with you, Rudy. I came here because there is something important that the Chalk Queen should have told you, but it would seem that she is holding back the information. I guess she is too much of a coward to do it herself. But...” Skrawl curled his claws inward and pushed his chin lightly against the top of his hand. “..considering that she just loves to push aside her guilt...” He stopped and gave Rudy a sideways glance. “Know what I mean, chalk boy?”

Rudy stared at Skrawl, looking utterly confused. He licked his dry lips slowly and he managed to choke out, “Wh-What do you... I mean... What are you t-t-talking about?” He pushed himself up slightly with one hand. “Where are you going with this..?”

Skrawl could tease Rudy a little further, dragging this out. He could have a little bit of fun with him mentally by making him guess what he was going to tell him. But as much of an enjoyment he might get out of that, there simply was no time. So instead, he just cut right to the chase, foregoing any kind of build up that he could have created.

“Your parents are dead.”

There, rather blunt, short and to the point. And it had the effect that he knew it would. He could see just how fast Rudy paled, how the sweat started to move down his face, how his eyes widened in utter horror. He stared at him as though he was hearing things, prompting Skrawl to continue.

“It is true, chalk boy. I have been watching your ‘dear friend’ and she had found out that your parents were dead. Yet instead of telling you like she should have, she decided to keep it a secret from you.” Skrawl said. “She doesn’t want you to know what happened to them. She wants you to keep believing that they are still alive. Why, I don’t know. But I guess you might know why, am I right, Master Tabootie...?”

Rudy looked like he was starting to hyperventilate, as though he could not comprehend this piece of news. He looked at the ground, his eyes widening in horror and realization. His face was rapidly becoming wet with sweat, and Skrawl could hear his heart pounding hard, trying to break free out of his rib cage. He clutched at his chest tightly, seething through clenched teeth.

“N-No... I-It can’t be... They’re not...” Rudy stared over at Skrawl. He drew in a few more heavy breaths through his open mouth before he started to narrow his eyes. “Y-You’re lying...!”

Skrawl merely shrugged his shoulders. “You can call me a liar all you want to, but when Penny comes, why don’t you ask her yourself?” Skrawl sneered at the boy, hunching his body slightly and leaning in forward. He pointed a long, thin sharp claw at Rudy. “If you are so certain that I’m wrong, just ask her. See how she responds....”

Rudy stared up Skrawl with wide eyes, looking as though he was disturbed by the concept of asking Penny anything like this. And of course he would be like this. It was of no surprise to Skrawl that the young man here, so broken as he was, would be nervous about being vocal with Penny. He just continued smile at the boy, staring at him right in the eyes.

“It is up to you in the end. I honestly don’t care what you choose.” Skrawl said. He honestly didn’t, really. His goal was not to force Rudy into anything. He just wanted to plant the seeds of doubt. “I can assure you that I am telling the truth. But if you don’t believe me, that’s fine.” He merely shrugged. “I can’t really force you to believe something if you honestly don’t.”

Rudy was silent for a few moments, as though trying to think of what to say. He turned his head down for a moment, and then lifted his head up slowly. His mouth opened up slowly. It took a while before he could force himself to start speaking, and even then, there was a bit of a hiccup when he tried to speak, making it sound as though he was physically tripping over something. “I.... I don’t know...”

“Like I said, it’s all up to you. I will allow you to make the choice.” Skrawl told his creator. “But I’m sure you can agree me with on this.” He pointed his claw towards the cage that Rudy was trapped in. “I’m sure you are tired of being in that cage, locked from the outside world, unable to do anything about it...”

Rudy continued to stare at Skrawl, his facial expression still showing how shocked he was and he could still see the devastation that he was trying to hide. Rudy must have some fear of his parents being gone, even if he did not believe they were truly dead. It was obvious from the emotions surging out of his eyes that just the very idea of his parents possibly being dead was making him question things. And in turn, this would eventually cause him to question Penny. Then the fun would be begin.

Skrawl didn’t want to spend too much longer in here. He tried to think of he should just leave now and.... Yeah, he should do that. He had done enough work as it was. His words pushed things just enough in the direction he wanted to go. He just needed to hang back and watch things happen.

As Skrawl made his way towards the door, he stopped for a moment and he looked over beside him. He furrowed his eyes upon seeing a slight sparkly thing in the dresser itself. Probably where Penny kept her magic chalk. He was about to move on until he found himself looking back at Rudy, switching between staring at the human and then back at the dresser.

It was a risky thing to do. A part of him chastised himself for even considering it. He would have no idea how Rudy would react to it. Did he even have the same amount of willpower to.... And then what if he tried to...

No, Penny would not let him get far. Plus it would make for some good entertainment. Perhaps he could even... He couldn’t complete his thought as he was smiling too hard.

Skrawl pretended to just simply pass by the dresser. But unbeknownst to Rudy, who had collapsed on the ground, likely to comprehend the information he was just told regarding his parents, Skrawl had reached into the dresser to grab onto one of the pieces of chalk. He carefully pulled it out and he dropped it on the ground. As he continued to walk forward, he used his foot to kick at the chalk, letting it roll towards the cage. Once he had seen it was close enough for Rudy to grab, Skrawl turned his head and proceeded to walk away, smirking the whole time.

sss

What was that all about? What was his goal? What was he planning? What did he think that he had accomplished from that?

These and other questions plagued Rudy’s mind and he just wasn’t sure what he was going to do. He couldn’t help but continuously stare at where Skrawl had gone, his eyes blinking slowly. He couldn’t comprehend just what that zoner had wanted and why he had come down here.

His initial thought was that Skrawl had found out he was alive somehow and wanted to finish him off. Skrawl had little reason to keep him around since Penny had already helped him conquer ChalkZone. Skrawl obviously thought he was dead, so when he found out he was alive, surely he would have wanted to finish him off, right? The fact that Skrawl simply spoke to him and left without doing so much as touch him.... He had a difficult time wrapping his mind around that.

There had to be something that jellybean zoner had planned. There had to be something that he wasn’t telling him, keeping a secret from him. He would never do this unless there was some other kind of ulterior motive. Rudy had no clue what that could be, and at the moment, he had no way of finding out. He was just going to have to keep himself steady and prepare for what could happen.

Rudy turned his head away from the door and stared out ahead. His confusion regarding Skrawl’s actions were rapidly becoming overpowered by another emotion. The grim realization of what Skrawl said had started to weigh down upon him, gritting his teeth in the process. It felt as though a weight was being placed against him and he could do little to shake it off. No matter how much he tried to pull away from it, he was forced to face the harshness of those words.

Were his parents truly dead...? He wanted to believe that, if that were the case, Penny would have told him. She might be a totally different person now, but she wouldn’t go a length of time without informing him of that...would she?

The thought of her keeping this from him caused him to lick his lips slowly and taste the bitterness on his tongue. It was an unsettling thing to think about. And what was scary is that, despite what he wanted to believe, he realized that Penny would have it in her to hold back information. He was certain she was doing that with him all the time, and she sure as heck was doing it to the zoners. Skrawl must have figured out her ‘hiding the facts’ ways and thus prompted him to go searching for him. Or maybe it was just a chance meeting. Either way, now Skrawl himself was aware that Penny had some things to hide.

But since this was Skrawl, he might have only told him his parents were dead because he wanted to ‘get back at him’ in some way. Skrawl never did like him, and he might have only held back in attacking him because he didn’t want Penny to find out that he had been here. But attacking the mind did not leave as much of a noticeable mark, at least compared to a set of claws. So Skrawl tormented him in the only way that he felt that he could.

Rudy could feel his gut burning up inside as he thought of Skrawl doing something that cruel. It would not be beyond him, he doubted. Anything to try to hurt him.... He curled his fingers up into a small fist on the ground, feeling them lightly scraping against the hard floor beneath his feet. If that’s what Skrawl was up to, that was a low down dirty trick. Practically on the border of what he expected Skrawl to do.

Then his stomach gave a sharp twist to one side and he began to wonder what if...it was all true... Feelings of horror and of sorrow started to eat away at his stomach. He could feel tears starting to burn their way through his eyes. He tried to shake his head off and not let it get to him. He had no proof if Skrawl was telling the truth.

But he also had no proof to show that he was lying.

Rudy let out a small grunt as he clutched at his head tightly. He pressed his fingernails into the skin, sending some waves of pain along his head. Minor compared to what Penny had done to him, and this enabled him to ignore it a little, pressing his fingernails even harder. Was he drawing any amount of blood? Perhaps, but he didn’t care. All that his mind could think of right now is the very idea that his parents were....gone.

He shook his head slowly, not wanting to believe it. They just couldn’t be gone. He had... If he had ever gotten out of here, he wanted to go see them. He knew the complexity of it all and that things would not have been simple. But he had at least wanted to see his parents, to hug them, to reassure them that he was still alive.

But now there was a chance that he’d never get that moment. If Skrawl’s words turned out to be true, then the last time he would have seen his parents would have been fifteen years ago. If he had known that would have been the last time he’d see them, he would have.... He paused himself and gave a small sniffle. It just served as a harsh, cruel reminder to him that life can go unexpected ways and things may turn out differently than he would have liked.

He let out a small sigh as he sat down, wrapping his arms around his bent legs, and put his face against his thighs. Not the most comfortable position to be in, but at the moment, he didn’t really care. He just stayed like this as his eyes looked out ahead in an almost dull way, silently sifting through his thoughts and his fears and his sadness.

What if his parents had died? If they were dead, how did it happen? Skrawl never gave him any sort of clues, only that Penny supposedly knew. Were they murdered? Was it an accident? Not knowing this gnawed away at his guts, making him feel sick inside. He really hated to think about this, but he just could not stop. He wanted to know... no... he deserved to know what had happened. If someone did kill his parents, then he wanted them found. He didn’t care how much she protested, he was going to make Penny bring his parents’ killers to justice. He might not be able to do anything, but she could. And if she did care about ‘justice’ as much as she said she did, then she would listen.

Rudy’s thoughts were interrupted when he happened to see something sparkling in the corner of his eye. He turned his head slowly and he could see something laying on the ground. He blinked a few times and he started to make his way over slowly. It took only a few steps before he could see that it was a piece of magic chalk.

He froze. Just how did this get here? He doubted Skrawl would do anything like this, nor would Penny. Perhaps it was just an accidental thing? Maybe Penny dropped a piece earlier and neither of them were aware of it? It could have been there for a while and he just never noticed it until now.

A mixture of thoughts raced through his mind. Should he bother to try to get it? Would he be able to hide it from Penny? Could he even use it? It had been a long time since he drew anything with the chalk. Would he even have the skills necessary to combat Penny or even get away? What would Penny do to him if she caught him with it? Would it even be worth it to have in that case? What would be the best thing that he could do? What would be the most practical thing that he could do?

Rudy could feel himself move closer to the chalk despite his apprehensions. The sight of it filled him up with a strange emotion that he had not felt in a long time. He felt slightly warmer and this increased the more he went towards the chalk. His eyes almost seemed to light up. He moved his hand forward towards the chalk, his fingers outstretched and slightly arched. He started to move a little quicker and...

He felt himself getting a bit snagged. He let out a small gag as he was pulled back. He shook his head and looked down at the chain that hooked him into the ground. He followed his eyes over and he could see that it was pulled taut. He then looked over at where the chalk was. He wasn’t that far. He just needed wriggle himself a little closer and he should be able to get it. He pressed his stomach against the ground and he started to reach out with his hand.

He could feel his muscles straining, becoming stretched nearly beyond their limits. He could feel the chain against his neck pushing up against his skin more tightly, practically leaving a mark. Despite this, he continued to try to reach for the piece of chalk. He just needed to get a little closer and then he should be able to....

He suddenly felt the very tips of his fingers touching the chalk. He lightly pressed down on it and he felt his heart skipping a beat as he could feel it starting to move. He narrowed his eyes and he tried to pull himself more forwards. He felt around for the chalk again and this time managed to grip onto it just enough to pull it back. He ignored the pain of his knee getting scraped as he pulled himself back, soon holding the piece of chalk in his hand.

He stared at it for a few seconds, unable to believe that he was actually holding a piece of chalk in his hand after so long. He felt a mixture of emotion, his body shaking. He wasn’t sure if he should feel safe or more vulnerable. He could feel warm tears moving down his cheeks, forcing him to wipe them away. He looked back over at the door that Penny would come in eventually. Then he glanced down at the chalk and he shoved it into his shirt, the only place that he could think of where it would be safe.


	11. An Old Adversary

The Plainville Mental Institute. She had arrived, and it hadn’t taken her as long as she thought to get here by bus. She always forgot how close it really was to where she lived.

Penny had to pull her head back to get the scope of this reddish brown building. It was several stories tall with multiple windows lining around it, as though designed by an overly excited child. She stared for several moments, licking her lips slowly, and then she proceeded to walk towards it. The twin doors that separated the outside from the inside, made of clear glass, were easy to spot. And through it, she went without a problem.

She still felt some hesitation in coming here. She almost felt filthy, as though going somewhere else would have been better. She would normally never have come here. This was the sort of place that she would stay far away from. Not because it scared her, but because she just...didn’t know how to feel about this place, and she often felt sorry for a lot of the people stuck here.

But today was different. She was on a mission. She was already here. So she might as well go and get it done and over with. She just hoped that she was not about to make a huge mistake.

Penny looked around the light pink colored area around her, seeing mostly walls and hallways that almost looked like they went on forever. To her right, she saw a door, but it was for employees only. Realizing there wasn’t much she could do, she started to head forward down the corridor. There had to be an office room in here somewhere. At least a place where people visiting could sign in. Surely there were enough people visiting to warrant that, right?

Penny didn’t find anything so far. She had been walking for at least a minute now with no signs of there being any office or anywhere that she could ask about... But perhaps she just didn’t go in deep enough. Maybe there was something there and she just had to keep going. Keeping her mind as focused as possible, she continued to head down, hopeful that she would eventually reach something. This place was pretty large, and maybe she went into the wrong entrance. Some places were pretty confusing like that. Maybe if she followed this all the way down, she would find something on the other side.

But even after all of that walking, she still couldn’t see anything. She could feel her eyes narrowing slowly in frustration, her teeth grinding together. Why was this so damn difficult? Was it really that hard to find somebody here? Was this the universe’s way of making sure that she couldn’t do what she wanted? Was this fate telling her that this was a bad idea and that she should abort? It did certainly seem that way, but she didn’t want to give up just yet. She just needed to try something else.

She stared at the door in front of her. It was smaller and less lavish-looking than the other one. This gave her a good indication that she really had gone through the front entrance. She frowned at this as she turned her head, feeling her neck muscles aching. She stared down the hallway back to where she had come from and let out a small groan. Was she really going to have to head all the way down just to try to find someone? She could feel her head starting to burn from frustration, her teeth pressing against each other.

She would have to do something. She just wished that these morons had properly labeled this place. If she had been the head of this company, she would have had something done long ago.

She let out a small sigh. Well whatever. Perhaps she should just...

“Ma’am? Is there something that you need?” A voice called out to her. “You look lost.”

Penny turned her head and she could see what looked like an elderly woman coming towards her. From her appearance, the woman definitely did not look like she worked here. She must be a patient.

The old woman moved in a little closer using her walker to carefully inch her way over. She smacked her wrinkly lips a few times as she started to speak again, her shakiness apparent. “Did you wish to see the doctor?”

Penny had no idea what this woman was talking about. She could mean a resident doctor, or something else. She would much rather not take the chance in getting confused. Instead, she just smiled and shook her head slowly. Although she was not sure if this was the right person to ask, since she appeared to be a patient or resident, she must have a better knowledge of this building’s layout. She motioned her hand forward slowly and she said, “Do you happen to know where I can speak to...one of the higher ups? There’s some people I would like to speak to.”

“You too? What a small world.” The old lady smiled slowly. “I’m here to see someone myself. My grandson’s gotten into some trouble lately, but he still needs the company, you know?”

Penny reeled herself back and put her hand to her chest. “Oh I’m sorry. I-I thought you were...” She stopped herself and swallowed hard. She recomposed herself. It was just a mistake. She pushed it aside and she said, “The people I’m seeing aren’t related to me. But I wanted to talk to them about something important.”

“Well if you’re lost, young lady, I can take you down to where you need to go.” The woman gave a few more smacks as though trying to keep her lips moist. “This place is a bit confusing if you are brand new. It took me a while to find my grandson here.”

Penny gave a small smile to the elderly woman. “Thank you. I appreciate the help.”

“No problem, young lady.” The woman gave a quick gesture with her head, indicating the hallway just behind Penny. “It’s down this way. Don’t know why they put it there when the front entrance is back there. Bah!” She moved her wrinkly hand to one side. “Some people just don’t think.”

Penny nodded her head in agreement and began to follow the old woman. She couldn’t help but feel a small pang as she heard the elderly woman’s words echoing in her head. She didn’t know why that was, but it still caused her to give a small shudder. Something about it was getting to her and she couldn’t shake it off, no matter what she tried.

In an effort to at least minimize the thought processes, she turned to the old woman and said, “If you don’t mind me asking, just who is your grandson?”

The old woman simply smiled. “Vinnie Raton.”

sss

“And are you sure you are eating your vegetables?”

“Yes, grandma…”

“Washing your face and behind your ears?”

“I haven’t forgotten any of this! Yeesh!”

“That’s no way to treat your grandmother, sonny! Now let me clean that spot for you.”

“Grandma…!”

Well this was certainly...interesting. Penny hadn’t really expected to see something like this unfolding before her eyes. She was already surprised enough to hear that Vinnie Raton was this woman’s grandson. Just how old did this woman have to be? She must be ancient, though she did not dare try to ask about her age.

Vinnie himself was starting to show some age. His dark hair was not as black as it used to be and she could see some areas of light greying. Some of his wrinkles had started to form. Small ones, but enough to show anyone that, yes, he was getting old. Yet he was still as spunky as ever.

But now things seem to have gotten even weirder. She couldn’t help but stare in awe as the old woman was treating her grandson like he was two-years old. She was wiping his face with a cloth and Vinnie was spluttering and trying to look away. The woman was determined to do this and Vinnie could do nothing to get away. He could only just scramble about, giving muffled shouts as the old woman wiped his face.

When she was finally done, she pulled herself back and gave Vinnie a smile. “Now there, isn’t that better?”

Vinnie snarled softly at this and wiped at his face. “You didn’t need to do that, you know! I was just fine!”

“Now now now, there’s no need to fuss.” The elderly woman smiled as she reached over and pinched Vinnie’s cheek. The short man grumbled and tried to turn away. “You always were so uptight. You should try to relax a little more. Take your time to enjoy the view.”

Vinnie didn’t respond. He just jerked himself away from his grandmother and used his hand to wipe his face. He glared at her, but he seemed to be unable to bring himself to do or say anything to her. How could he? She was his grandmother, after all.

Penny couldn’t help but give a small chuckle at this. She hadn’t expected to see something like this happen to someone like Vinnie, the same guy who used to throw his weight around to try to get what he wanted. This was even better punishment than that time that she and Rudy got him to crash into that fountain and dragged off by the police due to his public damage. The man had been so determined to get into ChalkZone that he disregarded what he was doing, and that bit him back in the ass later on.

A shame that it only caused him to have to perform community service, though.

Penny furrowed her eyes as she thought about ChalkZone and Vinnie’s relationship with it. She was starting to wonder if this had been a good idea or not. She recalled what he and Terry had wanted to do with the place. Considering that, perhaps this was all a huge mistake.

Yet she was already here. It was too late to back out now. Vinnie was going to want to know why she came. If she left now…

“What are you laughing at, girlie?” Vinnie hissed at her, his voice cutting her out of her thoughts.

Penny looked at him, blinking rapidly and shaking her head a few times as she tried to think of what to say. “I-I..”

Vinnie straightened himself up, his lip curling up slightly, distorting the one side of his nose. “Do I look funny to you?”

Penny wasn’t able to respond. But the grandmother appeared to have something to say.

“That isn’t a nice thing to say to a young lady, Vinnie! You best show some respect!” The elderly woman pulled out a rolled piece of paper and smacked Vinnie across the face with it. The man let out a loud yelp as he rubbed his cheek and glared at the woman. She just stared back at him, showing no fear of him. “You weren’t raised to act that way, mister! So grow up!”

Vinnie let out a few low grumbles. He stared back at Penny and held his gaze steady for a few seconds. Then he shut his eyes, his facial expression slightly lightening up, and he looked down at the woman. “Fine, grandma…”

The elderly woman immediately smiled, a stark change from how she was before. “That’s what I’d like to hear, sonny.”

Penny completely lost track of time after this. She was so busy trying to fully understand what was happening, trying to figure out if she should still do this, and reeling from the confusion of it all, that she didn’t realize how many minutes were ticking by. She couldn’t even remember how much she was actually speaking. She was only vaguely aware of the elderly woman occasionally speaking to her, asking her why she wanted to see her grandson. Penny could not remember what she had told her, but she had a feeling that it was convincing enough.

The atmosphere of the room constantly changed, shifting about between tense and more relaxed. Penny was aware of the tension between her and Vinnie, as well as between Vinnie and his grandma. But between her and the old woman, it felt more relaxed. She wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was the woman’s friendly demeanor or her nonjudgmental nature towards her. Maybe it was because she was one of the few humans she’s spoken to lately who did not happen to be her mother.

But whatever the case may be, Penny did feel a sense of calmness over time. And also a bit of familiarity, one that clung to her mind as she tried to figure out why that case might be. Why was she feeling like this and why was this all feeling a bit foreign as well? It was a confusing mixture and she wasn’t sure what to make of it.

Before she could figure it out, she realized that two hours had passed by already. She shifted her gaze to the electronic clock on the wall, one of the very few decorations in this plain room, and she was shocked to see just how much time flew.

“Wow, is it really that late already?” The elderly woman said. Her wrinkly eyes narrowed a little as she stared at the clock, putting a flattened hand over the top of her eyes to peer more closely. “My stars, it is. I should head out now.” She got up from her seat and turned to her grandson. “You behave now, my dear.”

“Yeah, I will…” Grumbled Vinnie. The tone of his voice made it clear that he was not happy to say that and was only doing so to please his grandmother. “Whatever…”

The elderly woman chuckled and leaned in to plant a quick kiss on Vinnie’s cheek. The man tried to hold himself still long enough to smile back at the old woman. As soon as she turned her back, he quickly wiped the kiss off, his face glowing with a level of embarrassment.

“See you around, Vinnie! And make sure to treat the nice lady right! You know how you were brought up!”

Vinnie gave a forced chuckle. “I know, grandma. So long!”

Penny watched as the woman left the room. A part of her wondered just where she lived. In that short meeting, she had grown to kind of like her. Despite her appearance, she wasn’t as ‘crazy’ as she thought that she was going to be. And how ironic that it was her younger grandson to be placed here before she was. She was used to seeing it the other way around. The thought brought a smile to her face.

But that faded when she heard Vinnie’s hissing voice behind her.

“Okay, genius girl. Why did you come here?”

Penny turned her head to see Vinnie glaring at her. He had gotten up out of his seat, perhaps to make himself look larger and more imposing. Though the effort was laughable considering she was taller than he was.

Vinnie didn’t seem to care about this and he took a step forward, his body tensing up a little. “I know you didn’t come here to just have a ‘friendly chit-chat’ like my grandma said. So what brings you to this place and to me, of all people?” He furrowed his eyes slightly. “Are you here to try to humiliate me further?”

Penny could sense the anger in the man’s voice and she felt herself pulling back a little. She then puffed herself up slightly and kept herself rigidly stanced. “No, that’s not it. Besides, it was your fault you ended up here.” Vinnie snarled at this, but allowed her to continue. “There is something that I came here to talk to you about.”

Vinnie snarled at her, his face contorting to show the underlying anger that he was trying to keep underneath the surface of his face. But despite how much his body was shaking in response to these emotions, he managed to keep himself from doing anything too crazy. He hadn’t attempted to charge at her, and a part of her thought that this was not just because there was a camera watching them. One that did not record sound for some reason according to Vinnie, but would make it a bit easier for her to talk about the topic at hand.

A few moments later, Vinnie made a quick gesture, swinging his hands and arms to one side, indicating the nearby table, which had only two chairs and was a bit smaller than Penny would have liked. There was no response from Vinnie, just a quick glare that told her what he wanted. She nodded her head slowly and she moved to join him at the table.

The tension between the two seemed to grow stronger. Penny thought she could just take out a knife and cut out a block of air. That’s how hard it felt to move around with Vinnie staring at her. Even years controlling Rudy and taking care of the zoners didn’t prepare her for this kind of stare from this man that she had not seen in several years. But she knew what must be done and she let out a small sigh as she prepared her speech. She just hoped that Vinnie was in a good enough mood to listen to it.

“I’ve come here to talk to you about….” She started to say. She had to pause for a moment as she saw the glint in the man’s dark eyes. It was like he knew what she was going to say before it left her mouth. Despite that, she still managed to force herself to keep speaking. “Well I’m sure that you would be interested in this. Remember how…”

Vinnie cut her off. “Wait wait wait…” He raised his hand up and waved it rapidly from side to side. “Stop beating around the bush. You are talking about that chalk world, aren’t you?”

Penny paused for a moment and then started to nod her head. “Yes… Though I shouldn’t be surprised that you’d figure it out so soon.” She felt a bit sheepish about this. She had known that Vinnie would know what she was here to talk about. She could have just…

Vinnie spoke up again. “So you came here to talk to me about this ‘ChalkZone’ place? After all these years, you are now finally willing to talk?”

Penny was starting to feel more regret over this decision. Perhaps she should have tried something different. She should have known that this would have been a bad idea. She felt locked in now. Leaving at this moment so swiftly might end up making things worse somehow. She might as well get this done and over with.

Penny said, “Y-Yes, that’s true. I know it’s been a long time, but I also know that you must still want a way in there. And I would be happy to…”

“Forget about it.”

This caused her to snap her head back in shock. She stared at Vinnie with a disbelieving expression, blinking her eyes rapidly. She cleared her throat and she leaned in a little closer, tilting her head slightly. “Excuse me…?”

The short man hissed, “You heard me, ‘young lady’. I want no part of that wretched place.” He pointed his finger at Penny in an accusing manner. “It’s because of that place that I ended up here! I let myself get dragged in by that Bouffant woman and look at where it took me! Do you think I want to end up in deeper shit? No thank you!”

Penny wasn’t sure what to think of this. She hadn’t expected something like this to happen. This is not how she remembered Vinnie to be like. She would have thought that he would have jumped at the chance to get into ChalkZone. He had been pretty obsessive about that place and wanting to get in in order to make an amusement park. What the hell had happened?

She couldn’t deny that Vinnie was telling the truth. The way that he was glaring at her, it made it rather obvious that he was not going to budge. He glared at her as though she had suggested doing something horrible. There was no more curiosity in his eyes. There wasn’t any hint that he was even interested in ChalkZone anymore. Whatever had happened with ChalkZone that led up to this point, it must have had a huge impact.

That was when something came to her mind and her eyes widened slightly. Did this have anything to do with him getting arrested again for trying some shenanigan in getting into ChalkZone? She bit her lip firmly at this, turning her gaze down. She hadn’t been bothered by that news before. But now it’s become a kink in the system. Whatever she had wanted to do, now this was not going to be possible.

Shouldn’t it be a good thing, though? At least she would not need to worry about him trying to get into ChalkZone without permission. Still, with what she wanted to do, this was still a bit of a setback.

Vinnie let out a small sigh and said, “Look, sorry to disappoint you, kid. But do you really think that I would hold onto that place for so long? Especially after it cost me so much?” He shut his eyes tightly as he reminisced. “I lost my job, my reputation, even my fortune.” He growled softly as he swung his head and glared at Penny. “You can keep that filthy world! I don’t care anymore!”

Penny took a step back, struggling to think of what to say. “...s-sorry to waste your time…”

Vinnie just growled at this, turning his head to one side and giving a small scoff. It didn’t seem like he was interested in talking any further. Doing so, Penny realized, might just aggravate him further. This was, in her eyes, a signal to start getting out of here. She didn’t know what he might do if she lingered for much longer. The tension that he was giving off was more than enough to put her at unease.

Biting her lip, she did the only thing that she could think of doing. She got up from the seat and started to make her way towards the door. This really had been a mistake. Perhaps she should forego seeing Terry. Perhaps she should find something else to do in order to keep herself safe should the zoners try to start a major uprising, stronger than the ones she’s been seeing lately. Perhaps she should just…

“...is that all you wanted to talk to me about?”

Penny stopped and looked over her shoulder. She furrowed her eyes slightly as she saw Vinnie staring right at her. There was a bit of an uncomfortable silence between the two before she managed to respond. “..yes.”

Vinnie stared at her for several moments. Then he furrowed his eyes and hissed, “I see…”

Penny felt some measure of wanting to say something to the man. But there was not much of a point to that, was there? Vinnie had clearly made up his mind and no amount of talking was going to change it. So she might as well leave. This was a good two hours wasted, she thought sarcastically.

Before she could start walking away, however, Vinnie raised an eyebrow and turned his head slowly to one side. “Why did you want to talk to me about it, anyway? And why after all of these years?”

Penny paused for a few moments. She then said, “It’s nothing you need to worry about.” Penny could feel her voice growing firm. “You obviously want no part of it. So why should I tell you anything?”

“Touche, little girl.” The short man chuckled. He tilted his head, a smile spreading along his face. “I’m going to take a shot in the dark and say that you are having some zoner problems?” He could see how Penny jerked at that and it was enough for him to realize that he was correct. His smile spread further as a result. “I knew it. Some of those zoners were unpredictable. I wonder if that is how little Rudy met his fate.”

It took only seconds for her body to freeze at this statement. She felt a small surge of emotions eating away at her stomach, making her feel slightly ill. Despite her complicated feelings towards Rudy, that didn’t stop her from forming a small fist with her hand at hearing Vinnie talk about him in that way.

Vinnie continued, “I know that there’s no way that kid was offed…however you said so. He goes into that chalk world so much, I’m sure that one of those things wound up eating him.” The man turned his head down, his eyes closing, and he started to laugh a little. “Well if that’s the case, served the little brat right for costing me everything.”

Why that… She felt her eyes narrowing further, practically glowing. She thought she could see her vision growing increasingly red as she watched the man laugh regarding what should have been a terrible situation. That sick man was getting enjoyment out of believing that Rudy was dead due to his love of ChalkZone. Penny could feel herself shaking increasingly harder the longer that she stood here. The only thing keeping her from doing anything was the fact that there was a camera recording everything.

But she couldn’t just keep holding herself back for much longer. Her body was surging, ready to spill out, and there was only one thing that she was able to do.

And hopefully, it would be the one thing that she could do that would be seen less of an assault and more of a defensive measure.

Penny did not hesitate for much longer and she leaned across the table to where Vinnie was. The man stopped his laughing long enough to look over at Penny. He only had seconds before he was slapped across the face, Penny’s hand impact creating a loud, almost snapping sound in the process. Vinnie’s body was forced to one side, his head now gaining large red mark. He struggled to get up, holding himself onto the table via an elbow, and he put his hand against his reddened cheek. He examined his hand, likely looking for any signs of blood, before he glared back at Penny, snarling through his clenched teeth.

“You little brat…” Vinnie growled. “I will make sure that you pay for that…”

Penny raised her head up at him, giving him a haughty look. “You can try to do whatever you want. But I doubt you will get far.” She started to smile at him, her eyes becoming partially closed. “You are locked up in a mental institution. Who is going to believe you?”

Vinnie’s body trembled. His eyes looked set ablaze and his teeth were bared almost like he was ready to bite her. But Penny just sneered down at him before turning around and walking away. She had wasted enough time with this man.


	12. Reasoning For Control

Craniac stared at Skrawl for several long moments before stuttering, “W-Wait a minute… Are you sure?”

Skrawl narrowed his eyes and nodded his head affirmatively. “I have no reason to lie about this.” He leaned in a little closer, his mismatched eyes staring at the zoner before him intently. “That’s what I saw. That’s what been going on.” He looked towards the ground. “You were right, Craniac. She really was hiding something from me.”

Craniac looked unsure of what to say at first. He stammered a little, making a few small, jittery gestures with his metal hand. He finally swung it out towards the zoner slightly and said, “Sh-She was k-keeping that boy….”

“...all to herself, yes.” Skrawl shuddered a little, not wanting to think about it. “I never thought she had it in her to do that.”

“Well isn’t this a good thing?” Craniac asked cautiously. Upon seeing Skrawl staring at him, Craniac continued, “I-I mean… She’s keeping him under control. So you have nothing to worry about.”

Skrawl growled softly. He had a feeling that Craniac was not going to fully understand the implications of this right away. He was only thinking in the moment, in shorter term goals. He wasn’t seeing what this could ultimately lead to. He wasn’t really sure if he could get him to understand or not. But he might as well try. Otherwise, this stupid robot zoner was to be blindsided by whatever the Chalk Queen was going to try next.

“You don’t understand, do you? I didn’t think that you would.” Skrawl shook his head slowly, his face furrowed in disappointment. “If she’s allowed to continue doing this, what more will she hide?” He held his hand up in gesture. “What if she has been secretly trying to overthrow me? What if she wants to get rid of you.” He pointed at the startled robot zoner before he continued, “See what I mean? She’s managed to keep this a secret for years.”

Craniac remained still, moving his hands against each other nervously, metal scraping against metal. “W-W-Well.. H-Has she tried to do anything to you yet?”

Skrawl shook his head. “Not yet, but I imagine it won’t be long.” He narrowed his eyes a little as he looked downward, licking his lips slowly. “She had no reason to hide the chalk boy’s imprisonment from me. She could have trusted to tell me.” He looked back at Craniac. “But she instead wanted to hide him. I don’t see any benefit in doing that.”

“Unless she wanted him for herself, like you mentioned. Or…” Craniac’s voice trailed off.

“...or she has something more planned.” Skrawl finished. “That’s what I’ve been thinking as well.”

Skrawl kept his eyes narrowed as he tried to think of what he was going to do. He didn’t want to do anything that would reveal himself as suspicious in front of the Chalk Queen. Even the act of talking to Craniac about this was concerning. But after meeting up with Rudy, he found that he was not able to keep himself quiet for much longer. Something did need to be done about this. He and Craniac worked together in the past. He was the only zoner he could think of to talk to.

He wasn’t really expecting any miracles. He doubted that Craniac would be able to think of something this fast, nor would it work. He had failed time and again in the past. But he might be able to provide at least some insight. Maybe even inspire some ideas on what could be done.

And if nothing else, there was now at least one other zoner who knew about Penny’s dirty little secret. Craniac had access to the cameras as well, including the ones attached to the enforcers, and the one attached to Penny, even if he didn’t always look. And from the sound of it, he never did bother to check Penny’s camera.

That was about to change.

Craniac broke the silence. “So...you gave Rudy a piece of magic chalk? Why?”

Skrawl had nearly forgotten about that detail he informed the robot of. He let out a small growling sigh and said, “I know it might not sound like the most appropriate course of action. But I do think that causing a little bit of discourse would result in the Chalk Queen losing some of her grip.”

Craniac blinked. “How so?”

“By using the zoner uprising against her.” Skrawl smirked as he said this. “Think about it. If footage of her hurting Master Tabootie were to be sent out, broadcasted if you will, the zoners would gain a level of hope. They will see that their ‘savior’ is still alive. They would have a renewed reason to want to go after the Chalk Queen.” He raised his hand up, his claws spread outward. “They would then join forces and launch a more directed attack.” He shut his hands tightly quickly, as though to simulate a blow. “She’s only one creator and the hoard of many, many angry zoners would bring her down to her knees.”

Craniac folded his noodle-like arms against his metal body. “That’s all fine and good. But you still need a creator. Rudy would never help you and if you get rid of Penny…”

“Oh don’t worry, I’ll still keep her around.” Skrawl said as he waved his hand from side to side. “Now I admit that I did have to alter this plan a few times in my head…but..” He raised his hand up in gesture, palm facing up, as he leaned slightly towards Craniac. His smile grew a bit crooked. “But I think I’ve got it down now. I get the zoners worked up by revealing Rudy is still alive. Then let the zoners attack her and beat her down. I come in and ‘rescue’ her, and I will re-establish myself as the true leader of ChalkZone. Penny will serve me and the zoners will respect me. True order would finally take a hold. Things will be as they should have been.”

Craniac remained quiet, just staring at Skrawl’s dramatic post for this. The robot looked clearly unimpressed by this. But there was something hidden in those LED eyes of his. Something that hinted that he understood the implications of this. The only thing that he did was just give a quick acknowledgement. “I see…”

Skrawl turned and gave a sideways smile at Craniac. “It’s a perfect plan! It will help me achieve the glorious respect and rule that I so richly deserve!” He brought his hands towards himself, squeezing them so tightly that he thought that the claws were penetrating the skin. “Then that stupid girl will finally…”

“Just one thing..”

Skrawl turned to glare at Craniac. “What is it now, Craniac? Can’t you see that I’m…”

“Yes, and that’s all fine and good. But aren’t you forgetting something?” Craniac asked. He stared intently at Skrawl, as though thinking that he should know this right off the bat. When Skrawl said nothing, the robotic zoner pressured on. “You know...there’s one detail that you are leaving out of this…?”

The large jellybean zoner shifted himself so that he stared down at Craniac with his hands on his hips. He straightened himself to look taller and more imposing than he normally did. “What might that be? Stop playing around and just tell me!”

Craniac sighed as he put his metal hand to his head and shook it. He then looked up at Skrawl and said, “What are you going to do about Master Tabootie?”

Skrawl froze a bit at this statement, blinking his eyes slowly before he quickly said, “I do not know what you are talking about.” He waved his hand dismissively as he looked off to one side. “He’s defenseless! What could he do?”

“Now it is you who is not getting it.” Craniac hissed as he pointed his claw at Skrawl. “You are forgetting that if you give him the chalk, he could get himself out. He would have a way to defend himself. Even if you do get Penny to submit to you, Rudy still has the power to fight back. He could create problems, send out nanobots to disrupt the cameras, deliver weapons to the zoners…”

Skrawl rolled his mismatched eyes. “In his condition? Have you even seen him, Craniac?” Skrawl gave a few small chuckles. “Though I think it’s a bit much, Rudy’s been ‘tamed’ by the Chalk Queen, so to speak. He would never dare do anything unless she tells him to.”

Craniac raised one of his LED eyes at this. “What will stop Penny from ordering Rudy to put some kinks into your rule? If he does what she says…”

Skrawl felt his body freezing at this, realization washing over his face. He felt his mouth starting to drop open and his hands loosened up. All at once, the elation of him finding a way to get control back were pushed away, replaced with a horrific realization. He knew in that moment….that Craniac was right.

But he still tried to look confident in front of the pale crimson robot. He just smiled, even if it was quite obviously forced. He forced out another chuckle. His voice came out strained, peppered with determination and silent convincing to himself that things would work out in the end. “....I will handle that…”

sss

Slam!

Rudy jumped up when he heard the sound of the door being shut so hard. He swerved his head to see Penny walking in. Her hair looked a little messed up and her facial expression was contorted beyond what he was used to. The very sight of it was enough to make him shudder, swallowing hard out of fear. He struggled to keep himself from making any sort of sound and pressed himself against the floor. He tried not to make it obvious that he was hiding something and he hoped that Penny would not notice.

Luckily for him, she seemed too distracted by whatever was going on in her head to really notice. She didn’t even bother looking at him. She just walked towards the bed and sat down on it, causing the curtains to stretch where she said. She rubbed her head a little, as though trying to fight back against a headache.

He could still feel the tension in the air rising and he kept himself as still as possible, his mouth feeling dry as he swallowed. He had no idea what to expect at this point. His mind spun with several thoughts on the matter. He stared out at Penny and waited and watched carefully. Would she take her frustrations out against him? Or would she just sit there, moping to herself?

The very fact that he didn’t know sent ice through his body. He knew well enough to be cautious of her during this time. He couldn’t stop his body from tensing up as he watched and waited to see what was going to happen. He kept his eyes narrowed into slits and his fingers trembled a little, his teeth giving a bit of a grind against one another. Even though Penny didn’t look at him, he could still feel her eyes judging him. That’s what happens when you’ve been under the control of one person for so long.

As he stared at her, Skrawl’s words started to echo inside of his head again. He could recall how the jellybean zoner had informed him of his parents’ supposed death. He had told Rudy to ask Penny about this. But even when presented with the chance, he wasn’t sure if he could do it.

What would Penny say when he brought it up? Would she demand to know how he knew? Or would she just chastise him for invoking such a ‘silly idea’. It could go either direction. What he knew for certain is that if she got angry at him, not only would that imply that she did indeed know something, but it would also entail a worse fate for him. Penny had shown time and again that she was not afraid to hurt him. That led him to asking himself the question: what would she do if he asked this particular question?

Rudy dreaded what the answer would be. He could already feel his leg aching, expecting to get attacked again. Rudy instinctively pulled his damaged leg to himself, hooking his hand lightly around it. He stared at it, biting his lip firmly. His mind flashed with horrifying memories of the attack and subsequent ones that followed that over the years. His leg was already permanently damaged from that. But he knew that Penny could make it even worse.

But these feelings did not stop him from filling up with a burning sensation in his stomach. He wasn’t able to completely fight off the urge to say something. He could feel his body quiver a little and he could feel the tips of his fingers aching and twitching. This was helped by the sense of empowerment he got from having a piece of magic chalk. That made him feel a sense of security when it came to confronting Penny.

He could never shake off the feelings of fear. He still hesitated at the idea and if he saw Penny raising her magic chalk, he would likely cower in fear. But at least he had a way to fight back now. This magic chalk that he had… It would be the key to start regaining some of the dignity that he had lost over the years.

Of course, that would depend on whether or not he could bring himself to use it.

“I see you’re just as lost in your thoughts as I am.”

Rudy jolted at Penny’s voice cutting into his mind, separating him from his mind’s thoughts. He turned to look at her, noticing that she was still looking away from him. But she had changed position in such a way that it made obvious that she was talking to him.

“Heh… I guess we both have a lot to think about, huh?” Penny tilted her head up a little. Rudy wasn’t sure what to make of this. “I thought I knew what I wanted to do, but reality had another plan.” She turned her head to stare at Rudy. “Do you ever feel like that? Ever in the past?”

Rudy remained silent. He didn’t know where Penny was getting at. He felt a growing sense of unease in his stomach as he started to move a little backwards. He let his eyes open up slightly further and his fingers pressed into the ground.

Penny gave a small chuckle at his response. “Oh Rudy, there’s no need to be frightened. I’m just asking a simple question.” Her smile faded as she sighed. She shifted herself away from him, moving her fingers against each other. “Though I suppose it would be counterproductive to be asking you these things. Especially regarding….” Her voice trailed off. Her eyes gave a slight furrow as she said, “Well, nevermind that.”

Rudy narrowed his eyes at this statement. He almost said something, but he managed to stop himself and pull back. He had a feeling that Penny was just trying to get him to react. He couldn’t let her get that kind of control so easily.

There was some silence that soon followed. The tension felt quite real and made Rudy feel increasingly uncomfortable. He could feel his body shuddering a little, no matter how hard he fought against it, a reminder of the uncertainty and internal fear involved in this. He really had no idea what Penny was going to do now, nor did he have much of an idea of what she wanted. He dared not to ask. He might have an idea of her reacting negatively to asking about his parents. But to ask about what she had planned… He had far less of an idea of knowing how that would go down.

Rudy soon saw Penny turning to face him again. This time, she looked like she was about ready to stand up. She stopped just at the very start, her legs flexing, and her eyes looked at him with an increased level of determination. It was clear that something was there and he could feel his gut starting to burn in side.

Was Penny preparing to…?

Penny started to smile again, this one filled with a level of bitterness that made the whole scene grow that much more eerie. “You know that I work hard to keep order in ChalkZone, don’t you, Rudy? And you know that the zoners are interfering with that, right?”

Rudy continued to frown at her. She wouldn’t like what he would have said. Judging from her chuckle, she likely already knew what words he wanted to flow out of his mouth.

“You are cute, really you are. But I think you know where I’m going with this. If not...well I thought you were more perceptive of that.” Penny lifted her head up a little. “I need to ensure my own security, of course. If I fall, then everything I’ve worked hard for would be lost. Imagine how insane the zoners might get if things returned back to the way they were.”

“Skrawl’s brainwashed you…” Rudy couldn’t keep silent for much longer. “He’s convinced you that the zoners were in need of controlling. But they never needed that before. So why…”

“King Mumbo Jumbo ruled over them.” Penny interjected.

Rudy countered with, “But he was gone for three hundred years and the zoners got on fine without him. Look, ChalkZone does not need a ruler.” Rudy leaned in a little closer, furrowing his eyes deeply. “You’re trying to solve a problem that does not exist.”

Penny smiled at him, hiding the level of frustration behind those eyes. Rudy felt a little uneasy looking at her with that expression. He still held himself still, even if his body quivered and pressed more firmly to the ground. This put him a weird position that was sort of a cross between submitting to Penny and challenging her.

But Penny did not look too threatened. At no point did she try to go after him. Instead, she just chose to keep chatting with him. Not that Rudy complained about that. “The zoners need me to keep things under control, whether they think that or not. If things had been more under control and civilized, then Snap would have been…” Her voice trailed off and her eyes seemed to widen at the mere thought of their late friend. This was one of the rare times that she mentioned Snap’s death without directly blaming Rudy for it. “Well I’m sure you could agree that I speak some level of truth, right?”

It was hard to tell if Penny was actually asking him a question or not. And he didn't’ know how she expected him to answer. He felt conflicted on just how he should respond or if he should at all. She was staring at him like she wanted an answer. But her tone seemed to suggest otherwise.

He decided to just take a chance. So long as he was careful, he wouldn’t provoke her enough to get at him…. At least he hoped so.

“W-Well, I can’t say that’s wrong, but.. Don’t you think that you’ve been going too far…?” Rudy inquired. He cringed as he saw the way that Penny’s stare towards him hardened up. He immediately flattened himself to the ground. “I-I mean… I’m not trying to imply that you… B-But from wh-what you told me, you seem to be stepping over your…”

“....yes, for the sake of keeping things in control. I had a feeling you would finally understand what I’m saying.” Penny’s voice was a bit more rigid at this point. This could either mean that she was getting worked up, or something was already bothering her and it was finally coming to the surface.

Then she said something out of the blue. Something that Rudy did not fully expect.

“I know the zoners want to overthrow me. They would look for any reason to do so. That is why I am going to need some...help.”

Rudy could feel something in his throat. “You’re not expecting me to…”

“Oh that’s such a thoughtful thing to say, Rudy. But...no.” Penny shook her head. “I know that you wouldn’t want to get involved in this. That’s why I went to someone else.”

“Who…?”

“Well one of the zoners brought something very important to my attention. I hadn’t thought of it deeply enough before, but I think I should start safeguarding against that. If there are enough zoners, then a single creator wouldn’t be enough.”

“...you didn’t…”

“...even you would have to agree that a single creator can’t keep this world safe forever, you know?”

Rudy felt sick to his stomach. He struggled to keep himself from spilling out his guts. The look in Penny’s eyes, the way that she spoke, the implications…. He didn’t want to believe that she would stoop this low. This went against her previous stance. This would undo all that work she put into ensuring that ChalkZone remained a secret, that it would never be invaded. Just what the hell was she thinking…?

Even before Penny said anything else, he could feel his head spinning with rapid thoughts, becoming crowded up inside of his head and he clutched at it tightly, pressing his fingernails into his skin. He couldn’t help but give a small muffled whimper as he struggled to fight against the burning feeling that tried to char him. This was almost enough to make him want to charge at her, and if this chain still wasn’t attached to him, he likely would have.

Penny’s expression was still softened, as though she didn’t seem to acknowledge the weight of her decision. She seemed absolutely calm. She must know the consequences of these actions. Or did she think that they were worth the risk? The thought made Rudy’s teeth grit so tightly that he thought they would break.

Penny said, “I know it was unconventional. But I felt it was worth a shot. So I went to say hello to our old ‘friend’, Vinnie Raton.”

Rudy’s eyes widened in horror. “H-Him..?!”

Penny nodded her head. She smiled lightly as she looked down at her hand. She flexed it and examined it as she spoke to him. “I figured that he and Terry Bouffant would be perfect in keeping order in this world.” Rudy stared at her in utter horror, unable to believe what he was hearing. “They already know about ChalkZone, so I thought there would be no harm in getting them involved. Maybe they would have even been willing to listen to me if it meant ‘getting a slice of the pie’, so to speak..”

“Y-You can’t be serious. Y-You know what they’d….!” Rudy started to call out, his voice heaving. “They want to exploit ChalkZone and use it to make a profit! Y-You should know that! Why would you ever…”

“Relax, Rudy. It fell through.” Penny’s smile weakened slightly. Her expression turned a bit more stern. “It would seem that Vinnie was no longer interested. He acted like ChalkZone was a nuisance and blamed it for his misgivings. Isn’t that hilarious?”

Rudy glared at Penny. She was such a hypocrite.

“He also said that y… Nevermind, no need to know about that.” Penny immediately retracted herself. She instead veered in a slightly different direction. “I have yet to speak to Terry Bouffant on this matter. I thought about going today, but since you’ve been alone for a while, I figured you would do well for a visit.” She gave Rudy a smile, making him shiver. “But also, why waste the resources if the zoners hadn’t actually tried to outnumber me yet? Why bring in the risk? Like you said…” She motioned towards Rudy. “..bringing someone like her in could lead to disaster.”

“You mean it will.” Rudy said, speaking to her in a warning tone. “Don’t pretend like you think that something could have worked out. Come on, Penny, you aren’t that big of an idiot.” He immediately froze at what he said.

Penny’s reaction was immediate.

“What did I say about calling me that…?”

Rudy immediately backed up, pulling against his chains. “I-I… I’m sorry! I didn’t m-mean to… It just s-s-slipped out of my mouth! I…”

Penny didn’t appear to be listening at this point. He could just feel her emotions oozing off of her face. He could see how deeply her eyes were narrowing and he swallowed hard, unable to stop himself from giving off a small whimper of fear. Penny drew closer, and as she did, the block of tension surrounding them just got thicker and less free to move around in.

“And are you implying that I’m dumb? Are you trying to question me? Undermine me?” Penny said as she drew in closer. She was soon at the door. She had not yet gotten in, but with her hand slowly raising up, the intention became very clear, sending off alarms in Rudy’s head. “You know the consequences for that, Rudy. Keep in mind that one of your failures from years ago is not understanding my plan. You just assumed...and that led to death…” She cocked her head a little to one side. “...and to this..”

“P-Please Chalk Queen… I didn’t mean to upset you…!” Rudy felt his previous courage become lost as Penny opened up the cage door. He forgot about his secret weapon in the midst of it all, and at the moment, all his mind could do was just try to find some way to get out of here. “I’m sorry for what I implied! Please don’t hurt me!”

“Begging and pleading never solved anything, Rudy.” Penny closed in in Rudy, standing tall over him, her body bent forward. She looked over his quivering form and she gave him a small sneer. “Sometimes the best way...is through example.”

Rudy felt everything spinning around him. His breathing increased and his heart rate pounded even faster. Raw adrenaline surged through his body. He could feel his instincts starting to kick in and he quickly looked around for a way to get out of here. There had to be something that he could do. There had to be a way to get out of here. But what could he do?

...the chain… He could still bite through the chain…

It had been weakened by his previous attempts to gnaw at it. But maybe if he bit down hard enough… But what of Penny? How would she react? The fear of her reaction was enough to delay him. Before he could even think of trying something like that, Penny’s hand had already grabbed the top of his head, yanking at his scalp and causing him to give off a loud cry of pain. His head was then forced into the ground, his skin scraping up against it.

“You always find ways to make me raise my hand. You never seem to take these lessons fully to heart.” Penny said to him as she pushed his head into the ground firmly. “Perhaps your spirit is stronger than I thought. That’s going to be a problem.” She leaned in a little closer, a twisted smile appearing on her face, matching up with her glinting, almost deranged eyes. “But every spirit as a breaking point, right..? How about we find yours..?”

Rudy’s eyes widened in horror. His fear-fueled adrenaline started to reach a boiling point, overflowing throughout his body. He attempted to jerk away from Penny, only to be halted when he felt her hand gripping his right thigh tightly. He seethed and whimpered in pain, hot tears forming, feeling her attempt to twist the flesh, irritating the crippled area.

Upon seeing how Rudy’s one exposed eye was looking at her, Penny just snorted. “Don’t look at me that way. You were the one who gave me a reason to take action. I need to keep things under control, and that includes you.”

Rudy could see the look of insanity in Penny’s eyes. It was becoming abundantly clear to him that Penny was losing her grip on reality. She was more easily unhinged and her actions started to make less sense. She was fearing the loss of control, something that she had relished in, and now she was doing whatever she could to get it back. That whole conversation there….she must have deliberately brought it up to provoke him, so that she could have an ‘excuse’ to…

Rudy let out another scream as Penny struck at his thigh. He twisted and yanked his body about as he tried to fight through the pain. It surged through his body, dominating his mind. He looked up at her with watery eyes, noticing how distant she looked about the whole thing. Even if there was a pang of something there, she had buried it underneath.

With the pain increasing, rising up, Rudy realized that he couldn’t hold still for much longer. He couldn’t just sit here and do nothing. The pain made his mind churn faster and faster, desperation filling him up inside, making his throat dry.

Without thinking, Rudy twisted himself around, freeing himself from Penny’s grasp, and he bit down onto the chain. He did this repeatedly before he started to pull himself free. With one hard pull to one side, the chain snapped, causing Rudy to fly back and Penny to stumble. Rudy hit the ground, his mind very slowly coming to realize what had happened.

Penny shook her head and immediately looked over at Rudy, her eyes widening in shock. “Y-You…”

Rudy hardly wasted any time. He pushed himself up and he started to scramble frantically towards the door.

“Rudy!”


	13. Escape Failure

Penny was stunned by what had happened. She didn’t think that Rudy would have it in him to do something like this. She thought that she had the situation completely under control. But then this happened. And she was left to quickly scramble to her feet to stop what was about to happen. Rudy could not be allowed to get away.

She did notice how he was running a bit strangely. He was hugging his arms to himself, making his gait seem off and wobbly. But she ignored it. That was hardly of any interest to her. What she did want to do is stop him before he got out of the room. It took her only seconds to get on her feet and charge at him. She ran as fast as she could, her feet pounding the ground heavily, her mouth open and panting.

Rudy, however, was not ready to be taken back by her that easily. He heard her coming and he twisted himself around, striking out with one of his legs. Penny had to stop and jump back to avoid being hit. She managed to get out of the way and she glared at him, ready to say something…

...until she remember his condition, and when she did, she saw just how slow Rudy was actually moving. It wasn’t his hugging himself that was causing the strange gait alone. It was his bad leg. Rudy was trying to run faster, but there was a noticeable twitch, his leg bending under its weight. She stared at this for a few moments before she started to smile. She was still charged up, but she managed to slow herself down, moving at a more gentler pace. There was no reason to go that fast.

Rudy’s adrenaline might be pushing him to keep going towards the door, to ignore his pain, but it wasn’t to last. The pain would eventually get to him and it was already putting a damper on his ability to get away. With each step, he was getting slower and slower, enabling Penny to get closer to him.

Rudy was not so willing to back down. Even with his botched attack that only irritated him, he was still willing to fight back. Rudy, with his eyes filled with fear and with his facial expression iced with panic, he struck out at Penny with one of his fists. It was easily dodged; all Penny had to do was take a step to one side. Rudy tried again, but this caused him to take a step forward, putting pressure on his thigh and he let out a cry of pain. Penny didn’t have to do anything to bring Rudy down to his knees.

She stared down at him as he clutched his leg. She watched as he shook and shuddered, giving off a series of small whimpers and cries. He clenched his teeth tightly, seething through them, before looking up at her. She could see just how much emotion was oozing from his face and the small, quiet plea that came out of them. She could only chuckle, knowing that Rudy was in no position to do much about what was going to happen. It would seem that he was at last realizing just what a huge mistake that this was.

She let her hand curl into a small fist of her own. She did not take action just yet. She just stared at him intently, letting her eyes narrow and letting her anger start to harden her face. She had no idea just what Rudy thought he was doing, but she was going to make sure that he did not get a chance to do it again.

And with that, her eyes slowly turned down to Rudy’s bad leg. He noticed this, and he immediately pulled it to himself.

There was no need for words at this point. Penny had already warned Rudy about this in the past. Rudy knew what the consequences were going to be. She didn’t bother giving him a warning before she started to make her move. With one long step forward, she brought her other foot up and she delivered a kick right to his right thigh, ramming into it like it was a disgusting piece of trash.

“Aaaah!” Rudy screamed, his voice sounding strained. The force of the impact caused him to roll painfully across the ground, stumbling like a bag of bricks before collapsing to the ground. He groaned in pain as he looked up at Penny. His eyes were wide and filled with silent pleas.

Penny ignored them as she came towards him again. She moved quickly, giving Rudy little time to squirm out of the way. Another kick landed on Rudy’s leg, filling him up with more agony, making him cry harder and shiver harder. Rudy didn’t bother to call out to Penny to stop, as if he knew that would have been hopeless. Penny tilted her head and gave him something of a curious look, only to suddenly stomp down on the leg, which caused Rudy to snap his body out and give a loud, bloodcurdling scream.

She stopped at this point and took a few steps back. She didn’t want to overdo it so quickly. She folded her arms up and she stared down at Rudy with disgust, her nose wrinkling upwards. She could feel a surge of emotions washing through her, clashing with one another. She said nothing as Rudy thrashed and shook on the ground, trying to cope with the pain that she had delivered to him. And all the while, her face remained stern, showing little sympathy for her prisoner.

“You knew the consequences of trying to escape. But you still tried to do it, anyway.” Penny told him, her lips becoming stiff with each movement. “You could have been a good little boy and remained where you were. Instead, you decided to fight back and flee, despite knowing what would happen.”

It was hard to tell if Rudy was listening at this point. He was just laying on the ground, shivering and crying, large tears dropping down from his eyes.

Penny shook her head. “Don’t try to act like this is my fault. I warned you. But you decided to do this anyway. You completely disregarded my rules and you are insulting my attempts at keeping you safe.”

At this, Rudy looked over at her, staring at her in pained disbelief.

“Oh don’t look at me that way. You know what I speak of. I’m the reason you’re even still around. Do you think Skrawl would have allowed you to live?” Penny tilted her head to one side. “I might be tough on you, I admit. And I don’t think I can ever forgive you for causing Snap’s death.” She ignored Rudy’s grunt at that. “But the reason I’m doing this is to make sure you don’t make any stupid mistakes again in the future. Not just for the zoners’ sake. But yours…”

Rudy stared at her for a few moments before lowering his head against the ground. His face remained contorted in pain. In a struggling whisper, he said, “...th-that’s a lie…”

Penny furrowed her eyes at this. “Why do you say so?”

“B-Because…” Rudy struggled to breathe, heaving loudly as though it hurt him to draw in a breath. “...i-if you did care about me…. Y-Y-You would have let me go… You wouldn’t have treated me like an a-a-animal…”

Penny sighed and rolled her eyes a little. “You are not looking at the situation logically. I could have allowed you to die, but I didn’t. I decided to be merciful and let you live under my rules and my protections. Even you yourself had said I had shown a great deal of mercy to you despite what you have done.”

Rudy grumbled. “You i-i-insisted that you were being merciful…”

“What did you want me to do? Throw you out to Skrawl who would have likely torn you to shreds?” Penny asked, raising an eyebrow. Rudy did not answer. “I didn’t think so.”

There was a long pause, an uncomfortable silence that swirled through the air. The only thing that Penny could hear was Rudy’s whimpers, still eliciting from his mouth, his body squirming a little to show just how intense that surge of pain was. A part of Penny started to wonder if she had perhaps hit him a little too hard. But she soon shrugged it off. He needed the lesson, anyway.

So now what was she going to do? She should probably grab Rudy and drag him back to the cage, redraw the chain that he managed to snap. He must have been chewing on it. Maybe this next one should be made to be electric whenever he tried to bite into it again, or spikier or something. She needed to make sure that he could not get away again. The zoners could not be allowed to know that he was still alive. If word got out that she had lied about that…

“Y-You must hate me, don’t you?” Rudy suddenly spoke.

Penny turned her head and stared at him in confusion.

Rudy let out a bitter chuckle, peppered in pain. “You don’t h-h-have to l-lie… I-I-I know you must… Why else d-d-do this to me..?”

Penny was not sure how to respond to this. She felt so conflicted, feeling her stomach churning and burning up inside. She opened her mouth to speak, only to shut it. This happened a few times as she tried to think of a response. Her voice felt caught in her throat, turning into a hardened lump that refused to go away.

Just what were her feelings regarding Rudy? She was angry at him for leaving the portal open years ago, which led to the events that took Snap’s life. She was angry at him for even thinking that he dare blame her for the incident. She thought that his actions could repeat and that he would hurt other zoners. She wanted to keep him under wraps, to make sure that he couldn’t do something stupid like that again.

But could she say that she hated him? This was a tricky question. Yes, she felt some hatred towards him in the beginning. She was still reeling from Snap’s death and he was a good outlet. She wanted to say that she still hated his guts and even the sight of him still at times made her sick.

Then she thought about how she reacted to Vinnie’s laugh about him being ‘dead’ and how enraged she felt. Could she really say that she hated him if she got angry at what Vinnie said about him? Or was it just because it was Vinnie? What were her actual thoughts on this situation? What was…

Penny shook her head, not wanting to get herself confused. She stared down at Rudy, looking at him with contempt. “...you murdered Snap. I have every right to hate you.” Those words were stiff and a little forced. She did her best to retain her posture and tone. “You are a threat to this world and I need to keep you contained.”

Rudy looked at her and he started to give a small smile. “I-Is that why you...d-didn’t tell me about my parents being dead…?”

Penny immediately froze at that, her eyes going wide and a small gasp escaping her throat. She stared at Rudy in shock, unable to move and, for a split second, unable to think. She felt a mixture of ice and fire going through her stomach and chest, and she thought she felt herself being cooked alive for the next several seconds.

Rudy’s own expression entailed an amount of horror and he tried to say something, as though to take back what he said. But it was already too late and all he could do was try to crawl away from Penny, his body shaking.

Penny remained still for several moments. Then her eyes narrowed just slightly. Her voice was a mixture of shock and anger as she tried to keep her cool. She didn’t think straight enough to stop herself from saying what came out of her mouth next. “H-How did you know about that…?”

Rudy’s eyes gave a small flash. “It’s t-t-true, then…?”

It was already too late to take back what she said. Both humans realized that they had screwed up and now they had to deal with the aftermath. Rudy looked increasingly terrified, his eyes showing a level of uncertainty that he normally would never show. And Penny was trying to wrap her head around how Rudy could have possibly found out. She had never told anyone about this, and yet somehow…

Penny moved in closer to Rudy. She lowered herself towards him, but did not try to pin him down this time. She instead looked at him with a bit of bitter curiosity and she said one thing. “Who told you?”

Rudy hesitated to speak. His voice was caught in his throat. His jaws moved rigidly and stiffly. He couldn’t stop looking into Penny’s eyes, as though too terrified to look away.

Penny gripped onto Rudy’s shoulders tightly and she pushed him into the ground, shoving her weight against him. She ignored his cries of pain as she moved her face forward swiftly, nearly banging her forehead against his. “I asked you a question! Answer it, you fucking idiot!”

“I-I… I don’t…” Rudy stuttered and stammered. “It’s not… I-I didn’t…”

Penny snarled at this. She raised her hand up and she slapped him across the face. Rudy let out a yelp as his head was forced into one side. He remained there, his body giving a few quivers, and then he looked back at her, his breathing heavy and a little weakened. “Don’t you fucking dare try to lie to me, Rudy Tabootie! You tell me who the hell told you this, or...or…” She struggled to think of something to say. The first thing out of her mouth was, “...I’ll rebreak your leg!”

This got Rudy immediately cringing back from her, shaking his head wildly from side to side. “N-No...please! D-Don’t…!”

Penny just curled her lip up into a snarl. “Then tell me who told you…” She ignored the small flash of pang in her stomach. She just focused on pushing Rudy down and waiting for him to speak. “I don’t know how you knew this...and I am going to get to the bottom of it. Tell me who told you, and I promise I will not hurt you again this session.”

Rudy’s breathing was still rapid, little hint of him calming down. He looked up at Penny, his expression showing that he wasn’t sure whether or not to believe her. Even when he spoke, there was a tremble to his voice, his head leaning forward and tilting to one side. There was caution in his voice and his eyes shined with a small tinge of hope. “Y-You promise…?”

Penny nodded her head. “Yes, Rudy. You have two options. You can refuse to tell me and I will snap your thigh again like I did before…” Rudy flinched at this. She raised her hand up in gesture. “...or you can tell me what I want to do, and I will not harm you. I will just put you back on your cage, lock you up again, and I will alleviate you of any guilt regarding this incident.” She narrowed her eyes. “But it’s up to you. What do you say…?”

Rudy looked really hesitant. It was hard to say if he was trying to protect who told him, if there was some binding holding him back, or if he just didn’t believe her. Whatever the case might be, it was clear that Rudy was having trouble making up his mind.

Perhaps he needed a little bit of help.

Penny dug her fingernails hard into Rudy’s thigh, causing him to scream, “Yah!”

“This shouldn’t be a hard decision, Rudy.” Penny calmly told him. She watched as he squirmed about, twisting his head from side to side. “You know what the right choice is. It’s up to you if you want to keep trying to fight me or not.”

Rudy took in several gasps of pain and fear, trying to move his leg away from Penny. He eventually stopped, too overwhelmed by the pain to keep trying to get away. It was only at this point that Penny lightened her grip on him, allowing him to breathe in and out with some sense of relaxation. He looked up at Penny with a tear-stained expression. She just waited in silence, giving him time to respond.

“O-O-Okay… I-I’ll t-t-tell y-you…” Rudy finally stated.

Penny gave a small smile at this. “That’s a good boy. Now..” She reached over and gently cupped his chin. “...just who has told you this awful little thing? Tell your queen your burden.”

Rudy shook a little and he gave a small swallow. “I-It was K-King S-S-Skrawl.”

“...what?” Penny’s voice was flat at first, almost devoid of emotion. She couldn’t tell if she was hearing right at first. She tilted her head a little to one side, leaning in closer. “Did you say that King Skrawl was the one who told you?”

“Yes, Chalk Queen.” Rudy raised his arm up over his head as though to protect himself. “H-He told me that you were deliberately keeping it from me.”

Penny just stared at him, her eyes blinking slowly. She couldn’t think of how this was possible. She never told Skrawl any of that. She wanted to think that it was just a mere coincidence, but perhaps….

...wait a minute…

...how did Skrawl get in here..?

It had not really dawned on her mind until now. But once she realized that Rudy must have been told by someone, that should have been a red flag that someone got in here. She could feel herself getting sicker by the second, her breathing increasing. She clutched at her stomach as she tried to hold her lunch inside. Her head ached and felt like it was getting ready to burst open.

She couldn’t believe it. Skrawl had...found his way in here. He had found where Rudy was. He knew that she had lied to him.

When did he find this out? How long had he kept it a secret? What was he going to do with this knowledge?

Penny could feel her heart racing and her body shaking in unison with it. This was unprecedented and it could lead to far more serious complications down the road. If Skrawl knew that she lied, and knowing how he seemed to hate that he was not in as much control as he would like, no doubt that he would use this to his advantage.

A sharp gasp escaped her throat. He was going to tell the zoners, wasn’t he..? Oh gawd… How could this have happened…? How could Skrawl have known about Rudy’s parents’ death? She was in the Real World when she found out. And how did he find out about this place? This just didn’t make any sense. Her burning mind raced for an explanation, but at first, he found nothing.

Until a certain memory came to her mind.

She remembered how Skrawl had offered her some kind of camera or whatever device that it was. He had claimed that it could be useful in helping spy on the zoners. She had rejected it and crumbled it in her hand, destroying it. She recalled that Skrawl did not seem to complain about it, which was out of character for him. She thought nothing of it at first. But was it possible that he...wanted her to destroy it?

What if the camera...was inside of her blood stream…? Or embedded in her skin..?

Penny’s mind filled up with solid blocks of horror before they melted into rage. She ground her teeth together, ignoring the pain that resurfaced in her slashed hand and arm, the pain medication wearing off now. She jerked her head to one side, staring towards the door. Her teeth almost glowed with the amount of rage that she felt.

In a heavy growl, she said, “S-Skrawl…”

She needed to take action right away.

sss

Skrawl immediately scrambled to get back. He nearly struck out at the monitor, as though thinking that was going to keep him from being spotted. But it was no use, anyway. If the Chalk Queen was this determined to find him, then she would, regardless of where he went off to.

The jellybean zoner attempted to keep his composure. He had to keep himself sane and steady. Trembling and twitching like this was only going to complicate the problem. He licked his lips a little and swallowed hard. He looked around for a bit, trying to see if she had already arrived here in the Future Dome. Though relaxed that she wasn’t here, he didn’t know how long it would stay this way.

“Well you seem to be in a bit of a mood right now.” Craniac uttered.

Skrawl turned to glare at him. He snarled through his clenched teeth and said, “Shut up!”

Craniac just raised his hand up a little, giving it a bit of a wave. “Hey I didn’t say a word.” He motioned to himself, giving a small smile to Skrawl. “It does sound like, to me, that you are having a bit of trouble. Did you not foresee this coming, oh great Skrawl?” The zoner’s robotic voice was tinged with sarcasm.

Skrawl was tempted to slap the zoner, but he couldn’t bring himself to do anything right now. At the moment, he was just too caught up in what was going on, trying to think of what he was going to do to get out of this. He did need to do something to protect himself. Standing here would be suicide. The Chalk Queen would find him and she would do whatever she could to make him spill the beans on what he was trying to pull off. He couldn’t even deny what he said; she would take Rudy’s word over his own.

Skrawl snarled at the thought of Rudy. That stupid little chalk boy…. He had told him not to tell Penny about the visit. Yet he cracked when Penny attempted to get information from him. All she had to do was give him a few threats and that was it. Rudy melted underneath her and relinquished the information easily.

But he couldn’t stay too angry at the stupid human. Penny hadn’t given him much of a choice and he should have known that the genius girl would have found a way to break him enough to make him submit. He had seen what she had done with him and how even he was disgusted with it. He realized that he shouldn’t be that surprised that Penny could so easily wrangle out the truth from him. Perhaps he should have found a better way of interacting with Rudy, such as using a disguise.

It didn’t matter now, anyway. Penny knew that he was involved and he could not keep hiding from her. She would just use the camera system to locate him quickly. No doubt she was using those right now. She would eventually find out that he was in the Future Dome. He would have to figure out a plan before she zoomed in on him. He needed a way to defend himself, but it was not going to be easy.

“Are you in any need of assistance?”

Skrawl tried to ignore the red robot zoner. He was trying his best not to glare at him or do anything to see him due to the possibility of losing control and attacking him outright. If there was anyone to blame for this, it’s him. Craniac should have found a better way of implementing this crumble camera of his or something and…

Well he did do his best and technically Penny found out because Rudy couldn’t keep his big mouth shut and…

No, this had to be Craniac’s fault. Skrawl did what he could and followed what Craniac told him. There was no one else to blame for this.

The only reason Skrawl didn’t try to choke the zoner is because he was trying to figure out what to do. He could not go up against a creator. He would easily lose, and his Beanie Boys were no longer fully employed to him. They could still help him out of course, but even with them, it would be difficult.

And there was no way that he could depend on Rudy to help him. He was not an idiot. Rudy would just refuse, and even if he did want to help him, he would be too afraid to because of the Chalk Queen’s influence on him. Skrawl couldn’t use threats as easily as the little genius girl could. He would need to figure out something else that he could do. Something that would better guarantee that he would survive Penny’s wrath and…

Craniac’s voice sliced through the air, startling him, “May I make a suggestion?”

Skrawl swirled around and glared at the red robot zoner, his claws curling into his palms. “I told you before to keep quiet! How many times do I have to…”

“But you want out of this situation, right? You want a way to fight back, to defend yourself, correct?” Craniac inquired. It kind of looked like he was smiling, but it was hard to tell, given that he was made of metal. “I know that you want an escape. I can see how your mind is churning and trying to find a solution.” Craniac’s LED eyes gave a slight narrow. “I think I might have an answer to your little dilemma.”

Skrawl frowned at Craniac for several moments, wanting so much to just slap him and walk away to work on this alone. But given how little time that there was… He let out a small sigh and slumped slightly. “...fine! What do you suggest?”

“It’s very simple.” Craniac said as he rubbed his metal hands together. Skrawl tried to ignore the scraping that they made while he reluctantly listened. “Have you recorded anything that has happened?”

Skrawl paused to think about this. Then he shook his head. “Not really.”

The closest thing to a smile that Craniac could produce was now featured across his glass dome head. “Try to imagine what would happen if you were to record our dear queen’s response to you, and she brings up certain...things..” He made a quick fluttery motion with his claw. “...how would the zoners react if they were to see this?”

It took Skrawl a few seconds to understand what Craniac was getting at. His eyes gave a quick widen before he slowly started to smirk in response.

sss

Where was he…?

Where the fuck did he go..?

Once she got her hands on him…

Penny snarled to herself, feeling the growl rumbling through her throat. She clutched at her hand, nearly ripping out the skin, as she struggled to figure out where that blasted idiot could have gotten off to. She was not going to let him get away with what he did that easily. She was going to make sure that he paid for his interference and for his snooping. Oh she knew she should have done something about him sooner. This could have been avoided if she just…

Argh..it was too late now. She focused on moving through the hallways of the castle, trying to find where he was. She did not yell for him. That might alarm him to her knowing what was going on. Despite his many dumb decisions, Skrawl was not entirely moronic. He had some intelligence in that skull of his and he would most certainly do whatever he could to keep her away from him once he heard that she was coming.

It took Penny longer than it should have for her to realize that she could have just used the monitor system to find out where he was. But that was all the way back there and she didn’t feel like walking over. She was already out here so she might as well just keep looking. Skrawl has to be around here somewhere. And if not, she just had to wait for him.

As she continued to look for him, she tried to think of just what she could do with him. How would she confront him without him immediately trying to pull some crap? What would happen afterwards? She knew that this could not be allowed to continue. But once she confronted him, then what?

She snarled when she realized that this was not going to be an easy thing to pull off. She didn’t want to lose him. The zoners would get suspicious if he’s suddenly gone. They would think that she was attempting to take more and more control. Plus it could cause Craniac to decide to turn the enforcers against her. The thought made her blood chill. She was going to have to handle this situation with care.

But ignoring it would be even worse. Skrawl could already be attempting to do something to make her lose her grip on power. He could be plotting something behind her back. He had every reason to want to do something. This had to be handled as quickly as possible. She just needed to figure out how this needed to be resolved where Skrawl would not have a bigger reason to screw her over and the zoners didn’t have more of a reason to go after her. And there was only one way that she could think to do that.

She would have to erase his memory of whatever he had seen or done the last few days.

That was rather harsh, she would admit. Toying with someone’s mind to that degree is not something that she liked or would prefer to do. There was good reason why she never tried to manipulate Rudy’s mind despite having the capability of doing so. Nor had she ever tried anything like this on the zoners, because it was not a level she wanted to lower herself towards.

But in Skrawl’s case, that might be the only thing that she could do. Force him to rewind to an earlier event so that he wouldn’t remember that he had found Rudy. She might end up doing the same thing to Craniac, since he built that camera. He might be in on this as well. She needn’t worry about the other future zoners; they weren’t too fond of Craniac anyway and might just think he was nuts if there was any discrepancy.

She stopped herself after a bit more walking and just stood there. She thought she could feel some kind of heavy presence in the air. She wasn’t sure how well she could describe it to herself, but it was just...a thickness that she could not merely shrug off. And then she thought she could hear a low chuckle. She felt her skin crawl and she turned her head around to see...nothing.

Penny furrowed her eyes, drawing in a few quick breaths as she looked left and right quickly. She couldn’t see anything or anyone there. It was as though her brain was playing tricks on her. She smacked her lips a few times and swallowed hard. Had it just been her imagination? She furrowed her eyes and she continued her way through the castle to look for Skrawl.

After a few more seconds of walking and searching, she could hear that laughing again. This time, it sounded a bit more clear and a little more...familiar. She widened her eyes when she realized how young it sounded, and energetic too…

No, no, it was impossible. It couldn’t be…

Penny turned her head to the side and she could see that there was another shadow right behind her. A smaller shadow with roundish features, about the size of a small child. She felt ice shooting through her body as she whirled around to face this shadow, only to see that there was no one there.

Penny’s eyes widened as she looked around, trying to wrap her head around this situation. She looked from the blank area and then to the wall again. This time, she didn’t see any shadows there. She licked her lips a little and then looked back and forth a few times. She could have sworn that she had seen something there. Was this another hallucination? What the fuck was wrong with her..?

Then she heard a chuckle. Her eyes widened as she heard that painfully familiar voice calling out to her tauntingly.

“Is there something wrong, Buckette? You look so tired.”

Penny could see that, while there was still no one in front of her, the shadow was still on the wall. And when the voice had been ringing out, the shadow itself had moved to match that, complete with mouth movements and gestures that strongly reminded her of…

“Wh-What is it now, Snap? If that is who you are..” Penny growled, looking left and right. She knew it was stupid to be talking to something that she knew was not real. But she still kept it up anyway. “J-Just leave me alone!”

She could see how the shadow of ‘Snap’ chortling, shaking in response to each laughter. She could see him grinning, the lines of his teeth visible even though it should be illogical. The sight of this reaction and of that expression made her cringe and move back. She struggled to keep her breathing under control, her mouth open and panting, her eyes wide and slightly narrowed at the top.

“You know it’s going to be all over soon, don’t you? Skrawl knows what you have done. How long do you think it will take for the other zoners to find out?” ‘Snap’ grinned as he said this. He tilted his head to one side to an almost unnatural position. “What do you think they will do with you when they learn what their ‘queen’ has done?”

Penny’s breathing increased some more despite her best efforts to control it. She took another step back. Her body arched and her fingers flexed in response to the smirking shadow in front of her. She breathed in and out heavily, her teeth clenching tightly.

‘Snap’ mocked her. “Oh what’s wrong? Are you afraid to lose your place here, Penny? Are you afraid of losing control?”

Penny finally shook her head and responded to ‘Snap’, despite knowing that it was stupid to do so. “Sh-Shut up! You don’t know a damn thing about me!”

“I’m so hurt. I thought you actually cared about me.” ‘Snap’ said. He faced a sad expression that soon gave way to another smirk. Somehow, this one felt as though there was a tinge of bitter sadness and disappointment in it. “Well you did tie me up and lowered me to that bucket of acid, giving Rudy little time to save me. Perhaps you really did want to get rid of me after all…”

Penny snarled at this, her body shaking. “That is not true! Y-You should know that, Snap!’

“....the least you could have done was be honest with me, Buckette.” ‘Snap’ said in a chilling voice. “You could have just said that you hated me. Then at least my death would have been less painful.”

Hot tears moved down Penny’s cheeks when ‘Snap’ said this. She struggled to keep breathing normally, hearing how her voice hiccuped and trembled. Her mind sifted through many burning thoughts and feelings, all culminating in ripping through her skull. She started to growl softly, but she couldn’t get herself to say anything.

Eventually, the build up was just getting to be too much. The words of her friend….of the hallucination of her friend...they continued to echo in her head, getting louder and louder as time passed. She ground her teeth together, feeling and tasting the tears in going into her mouth. Her nose was getting stuffy and this caused her to have some trouble breathing. But her current state of mind, she hardly noticed this, and instead she just continued to shake and burn, as though someone was trying to cook her.

She knew that the real Snap would never say this, so why was she so worried about it? Why did she torment herself with these lies? She tried to tell herself over and over again that this shadow did not actually belong to Snap at all. It was nothing more than her mind playing tricks on her.

And yet she could not keep pushing this thought into her head. Her emotions are rising up and taking over her mind. Those words coming from something that sounded so much like her late friend…

Then at last, she could not hold it in any longer.

Penny let out a loud scream as she rushed towards the wall and punched into it as hard as she could. As soon as she did, the shadow dispersed. Her logical side realized this was more her brain shifting back to normal, but in the moment, her emotional side saw it as punishing the imposter. She ignored the pain in her hand, having used the same one that was hurt before, and just leaned up against the wall like this for a few seconds, breathing in and out heavily.

It was only after her emotions started to die down that she felt the pain surging in her arm. She let out a hiss and grint and clutched her injured arm and hand to herself. She seethed through clenched teeth and tried to ride out the pain the best that she could. Eventually she let go of her arm and, even though pain was still buzzing around inside of it, she resumed heading down the hallway.

Her body still trembled from the experience. Each step was shaky and her breathing was not sounding quite right. She felt jumpier, constantly looking around, as though ‘Snap’ was going to return at any moment. She put her hand to her forehead and carefully rubbed it. How long was she going to be able to handle this without suffering a heart attack? She didn’t…

She then looked at her hand, noticing the bandage on it and feeling the small sting spreading from it and into her arm. Horror started to settle in her burning chest when she recalled how she had purposely injured herself back at home. The terrifying memory was fresh on her mind and she gulped loudly.

Was this what ‘Snap’ wanted? To drive her to self injury?

Gritting her teeth, she shook her head, trying to remove that stupid thought out of her head. Now, she couldn’t let herself be dragged down like this. She had to keep pushing forward, to keep moving on ahead, to not allow this to get the better of her. That’s exactly what someone like Skrawl would want. That would give him the chance to jump up and take back what was rightfully hers.

And in the end, it was still just a hallucination. She shouldn’t pay it any attention. She shouldn’t even acknowledge it. It was nothing more than her brain misfiring, playing on her fears, what she think was the case. But so long as she kept reminding herself of the truth, things should be fine.

She exhaled deeply as she stopped at the end of the corridor, looking left and right. Which way should she go? Which way would Skrawl mostly be down? She narrowed her eyes deeply. She knew that stupid zoner had to be here somewhere. He wouldn’t stay away forever. He would come back like he always did. If he wasn’t here yet, then he will be here shortly. And she was going to be ready for him.

That’s around when she remembered something. The back of her mind flashed with memories, and she could see something clawing its way to the surface. Something that was giving her a reminder of the past, of how Skrawl normally behaved. There was one particular place in this whole castle that he would often go to. And that was his own room. She had never invaded his privacy much in the past. But considering what he has done… She narrowed her eyes, a small smile spreading along her face. Perhaps she should surprise him when he got back.

She still had no idea just how she was going to deal with the jellybean zoner. But she supposed that she could always figure something out on the fly. She just had to be sure to be stern, no matter what. Skrawl could still find a way to work it into his advantage. This was not something that she herself could allow.

Without another thought, Penny turned gears and began to head back the corridor that she came. If she hurried, she might be able to reach her destination before Skrawl would arrive. That would give her the time that she needed to prepare a special...greeting for him. Wouldn’t that be lovely..?

She did freeze for a moment when she passed by the section that she saw ‘Snap’’s shadow on. She forced herself through and in that entire time, she found nothing and heard nothing out of the ordinary. She let out a small sigh of relief, and then picked up speed, heading down to her destination.


	14. Forced Hand

The jellybean zoner had to move a little cautiously throughout the castle. His eyes shifted left and right constantly as he tried to figure out where Penny might be. He knew that she would be looking for him. So far, though, he hadn’t spotted her. Was she just not back? Had she left to go find him elsewhere? He swallowed loudly, uncomfortable with the thought of not knowing.

This had all been part of the plan of course. He couldn’t get any sort of recording, as Craniac suggested, without actually running into Penny. He had to steel himself and prepare for whatever is about to happen. Even if she did something that would incapacitate him, Craniac wired things that he would get the recording and he could broadcast it himself. Though Skrawl wasn’t entirely sure that he could trust Craniac of all zoners with this, he realized that it was his best shot.

Still, that did not shake off his nervousness, his hands rubbing together constantly. He felt his antenna quaking with anticipation. The Chalk Queen could be hiding around the corner, ready to strike at him, to do something horrible to him. She might have rigged this place up with many traps, knowing that he would eventually run into one of them. He would have no idea until it was too late, and the thought made him swallow bitterly.

Skrawl attempted to look as brave as possible. In case Penny was watching him or was seeing him in some way, he wanted her to think that he was acting like his usual self, that nothing was going on. Or at least, he wanted her to believe that he was accepting her challenge.

His walking became a tad bit slower over time and the tension in the air started to rise higher. He let his large, yellow, crooked teeth press against each other, nearly causing a few chipped teeth, as he nervously ground them. He managed to stop this quickly enough that he hoped Penny hadn’t noticed. He then stopped for a moment and tried to think of where Penny might go. Where would there be placed that she would think that she could ambush him easily?

His first thought would be the control room. She might think that he would go there for safety so that she could not easily watch him. That made the most logical sense. Perhaps he should head that way?

But there were other locations. Even just around any corner, she might be hiding, perhaps even having cloaked herself. Choosing a place to go wasn’t going to be easy, and he was getting a little exhausted from his racing mind. Maybe he should consider going to his room to give it a little bit of a rest. Yeah, that did sound like a good idea.

After taking a bit of time of walking, Skrawl soon arrived in front of his door. He had to stop for a moment and look around. He didn’t think that he was followed, but you could never be too sure in here. Although the castle was mostly empty save for prisoners, him, and the Chalk Queen, there were times when it felt like it was more alive than that. He could never fully shake off the feeling of being watched at times. Was this the result of their hidden camera work?

At least he would start to feel better once he headed in here and tried to relax. His room was a safe haven amongst this place. An area where he could relax and rest in without as much fear of… He tried not to think about it too much. There was no need for that right now. He took in a deep breath and sighed before he grabbed onto the door handle and turned it.

Just as he thought. Still as empty as before. For some, this might be unnerving, making them want to get out of here and hide or whatever. But for him, it was wonderful. It gave him a sense of calmness, a sense of relaxation, and most importantly, security. He felt safe here. The Chalk Queen would rarely bug him in this place. Though he had his doubts it was because she respected hsi privacy. It was most likely out of necessity; she was busy doing whatever else she had in mind. He snarled softly at that thought as he walked in further.

Perhaps now would be a good time to look down at his monitor to see where she was. He didn’t know why he didn’t think of that sooner. He licked his lips slowly as he pulled the device out. As he did so, he thought he could feel something dark-colored moving along behind him. He froze and looked around. When he didn’t see anything, he shrugged it off and he looked down at his monitor once again, flipping it on.

There was something familiar about where Penny was standing. It was a little dark for some reason, but even through that darkness, there were familiar patches that made him think that he must know where this was. He just could not quite put his finger on it. Why did this seem so familiar to him…?

Then he saw some kind of large lump. It was a little still, only barely moving. Kind of like him in some ways. No, in all of the ways, he realized. He wanted to shrug this off at first, and he managed to do just that as he continued to concentrate on where this could be.

But there was still something off about this whole thing…

As if…

Skrawl looked at the top of the lump’s head. He could see how they moved and swayed and appeared to be weighed down slightly by something attached to their ends. The only thing that he knew of that fit this appearance, description, and behavior, were his own antenna. But wouldn’t that mean that…

Skrawl’s eyes widened in shock at this. He had time to turn around quickly before something thick and heavy hit up against him, with a dark coloring just like he had been seeing. The jellybean zoner struggled and wriggled on the ground, feeling a heaviness around the edges. His legs kicked out wildly as he tried to get himself free.

But no matter how valiantly he fought, nothing he did could get himself to get free. He was stuck here, everything weighing down on his shoulders, making it difficult to move. He struggled to breathe in some cases, the weighted ‘blanket’ or whatever it was pushing down upon his chest. He soon had to stop struggling altogether and look over to see the one who was standing over him.

The Chalk Queen herself. Even through the darkness of this cloth, it was difficult not to see her. He could see the look on her face, and he could feel a wave of ice shooting through his veins.

He remained on the ground, frozen as the Chalk Queen just glared at him. It took him a few moments to realize that he had dropped his monitor and it had flown out in one direction, out of his reach, his hands blocked. He wouldn’t be able to take it before she saw it. Which she already had, seeing how her eyes moved slowly towards it. She reached down and grabbed onto it, lifting it up.

With her finger lightly stroking along the top of the monitor, somehow looking really threatening, she said, “....I see you’re a fan of spying, Skrawly…”

The jellybean zoner swallowed hard, unable to bring himself to retort that nickname.

Slowly, Penny looked down at him, giving him a downwards, sideways glance, her lip curling up slightly. “Do you enjoy watching me…?”

Skrawl couldn’t help but gulp at the way that Penny was saying that. He could hear some kind of intent behind that voice. He didn’t know precisely what she was going to do. But given the way that she was glaring at him, seeing that expression in her eyes, something was clearly up. The large green zoner couldn’t even try to wriggle himself away. He was pinned down by whatever Penny had used to hold him down. There was nothing that he could do at this point. He could only just stare in horror as Penny moved in closer and closer, her expression shifting a little, contorting to show more and more intent.

“I’m disappointed in you. I thought you were supposed to be my co-ruler, helping me keep an eye on things, helping me maintain order and law in this world. But then…” She looked at the device in her hand, gripping it firmly and growling loudly. “...you instead decide to spy on me behind my back. You have been doing this for how long now?”

Skrawl didn’t dare try to answer. It would not matter, anyway. Even if he said that it was for a couple of days and not months or years, it would still garner the same result from the female human standing before him. He could only manage to give a glare at her, silently warning her that he was not ready to give up yet.

The sight of this made Penny chuckle. “Oh I know, this has something to do with that camera I destroyed, right? That was on purpose, wasn’t it?” Penny’s eyes remained steady with his. They weren’t that far narrowed, but Skrawl could see just how much she was trembling inside, how much emotion was wracking through it like a knife through butter. “You’ve been spying on me for the past few days and you have even made some...questionable discoveries, haven’t you…?”

Skrawl knew there was no point in denying it. He swallowed hard, feeling as though a lump was sliding down his throat. “Y-You said that he was dead…”

The Chalk Queen stared at him for a few seconds, blinking her eyes slowly, before she started to chortle softly. “Oh I think I know who you mean… Rudy Tabootie, right?” She cocked her head to one side, twisting it, almost bending the bones inside beyond their limits. “You know about my ‘dirty little secret’, then.”

“Why would you….keep that from me…? We were supposed to rule together! There weren’t supposed to be any secrets between us!” Skrawl wailed at her. He struggled for a little while longer in the net covering him. He had already wasted too much energy earlier, however, and the only thing that he could do was just collapse, most of his energy now gone. “Y-You can’t just..keep doing this…. Y-You are supposed to tell me everything! I’m the king!”

“And I am the queen. So what?” The woman growled at him, adjusting her glasses as she analyzed him like a piece of steak. “Why should I be obliged to tell you about my little prisoner? I’m sure you don’t tell me everything.” She lifted up the monitor with two fingers pressing against it. “Like your little spying program..”

“Th-That’s different!” Skrawl cried out. “I only did that because I learned you were hiding secrets from me! If you had been honest and upfront about it from the start, this wouldn’t have happened!”

The Chalk Queen shook her head slowly. “That’s still not an excuse. I want to be able to trust you, but apparently I can’t. I know that you would do anything in your ability to syphon as much power for yourself as possible. You never cared about working with me. You just wanted me to work for you. The title of ‘Chalk Queen’ was just a gimmick for you, and you are angry that I managed to turn it into a real thing, aren’t you?”

Skrawl snarled at this, “I’m the one who put you in power! You should be answering to me!”

The Chalk Queen chuckled darkly at this. “And yet I don’t. I’m closer to being your equal, even above you, and there isn’t really anything you can do about it… except…” Her eyes furrowed a little as she raised herself up, putting her free hand on her hip. “..you find a way to use your discovery regarding Rudy to cause a backlash against me. What were you going to do after that? Come to my rescue and make me grateful to you?”

Skrawl’s eyes widened in shock at this. How did she guess that? Was she more intuitive than he had given her credit for? The thought made him quiver and he tried his best to keep himself under control.

Penny apparently took this as a yes. “I thought so. It doesn’t really surprise me at all. You were always too ambitious for your own good, you know. You’re too short-sighted to see potential in areas that you ignore. You’re too dead set on being the only one really running things. You are such a selfish zoner, aren’t you?” Penny gave what looked like a saddened expression, though it was hard to tell if it was real or not. “But despite your violations to my trust, I can’t simply get rid of you.”

“Then what are you going to do? Give me a slap on the wrist? That doesn’t seem very efficient, or smart.” Skrawl chuckled, smiling despite the fear growing inside of him.

He could see the Chalk Queen slowly raising up her magic chalk, pressing her finger against the tip and twirling it around a little, letting the monitor drop to the ground. It was a miracle that it did not break open. “...you could almost say that.” She admitted, her tongue moving over her lips slowly. “This would seem like letting you off too easy. But it would give me what I want.”

Skrawl wasn’t sure if he really wanted to ask. But a part of him still found himself letting the question flow out of his mouth anyway. “And just what do you think you are going to do? What course of action are you going to take that you claim will ensure that you will keep what you want and I lose what I want?”

The Chalk Queen started to sneer at him, a look that made him unable to speak any further. “Do you know how vulnerable the brain is? How the neurons connected can be easily severed? How all our memories are relying on these connections to remain strong?” She tilted her head to one side. “Memories aren’t solid, Skrawl. For better and for worse, they are...malleable. Flexible… Isn’t that just fascinating..?”

Skrawl felt a rush of emotion surging through his body, threatening to swallow him up. He tried to keep himself under control, tried not to let his fears rise up to the surface for this evil woman to see. While he did manage to do just that, none of his glares appeared to be scaring Penny, and in turn, they were making him feel increasingly uncomfortable, which made his glaring that much more difficult to perform.

It didn’t take a genius to realize what Penny was intending to do. He could see the look in her eyes and he could hear the intent in her voice. There wasn’t much deciphering required. It was obvious of what she wanted to do, and that made him want to struggle even more, hoping to escape from what was about to happen.

Penny just watched him do this for several long moments, her mouth curling up into a large, twisted smile. Her magic chalk was held out in front of her, allowing him to see it, his wide multi-colored eyes staring at it intently. Penny raised it up a little higher and said, “Let’s see just how easy this is to do in the chalk world…”

All Skrawl could do was start to squirm about as the magic chalk started to move, Penny’s arm piloting it.

sss

Trying to lay still felt as though it was an impossibility. It didn’t matter how well he tried to keep himself steady, nor did it matter how much he tried to ignore it. The pain was still there, hovering over his head, making it ache in addition to the pain that still rang throughout his body. Despite what she said, Penny still struck him even after he had told her what she wanted.

He chalked it up to her being so filled with anger and disgust and betrayal regarding Skrawl that she just had to let loose somehow. She was probably not thinking very straight and this caused her to kick at his bad leg. He would normally view this as a deliberate attack, but considering the fact that Penny still wandered off afterwards, not paying attention to his screams, he wanted to believe that it was an afterthought move.

At least the pain had subsided to some degree. There were still echoes of agony in his limb and it still felt like it was set on fire. He still couldn’t hold completely still and he had to twist himself about just to try to get comfortable. But it was at least a little better than before.

Rudy wasn’t really sure how to feel about what he had told Penny and how he had broke his promise to Skrawl. Or was it really much of a promise? Could he have trusted Skrawl himself to keep the meeting a secret anyway? It did seem a bit hypocritical of him to want him to shut up while he himself would have spread the news. Well, he did mean Penny as that was the only person he, as her personal prisoner, would have been able to talk to. But still, he….

Rudy’s thoughts were cut off when he felt more pain shooting up his leg. He seethed with tightly clenched teeth, clutching his leg to himself. It would seem that his nerves weren’t yet done with tormenting him. He looked down at his leg, rubbing his hand up and down it slowly, trying to calm the pain signals underneath the skin. He then shut his eyes tightly and he leaned in against the leg, his wandering mind wondering when it would all be over.

He didn’t even know what Penny was going to do afterwards. Would she keep her promise of just forgetting about this? Sure he had been willing to give what she wanted due to this promise. His primal brain was racing for a way to end the pain and that was the most obvious, easiest route to do so. But had it been the smartest move? Did Penny really intend on keeping her promise? What if it was just a way to lure him into a false sense of security while she went to make a move behind his back?

He let out a small grunt as he adjusted himself to reach into his shirt and take out that piece of chalk that he had successfully managed to hide from Penny. He stared at it intently, licking his lips slowly as he wondered how he was going to use this. Penny might not have seen it yet, but his recent encounter with her made him wonder just what the best route would be to use this thing. If he took a move too quickly, would that get in the way of having any success? Maybe Penny would be extra vigilant; she was aware that he had broken the chain.

And then there was his fears… Rudy couldn’t make it any secret to himself that he was terrified of what might happen, terrified of Penny herself. He knew that it was his fears that caused him to bow down to Penny, metaphorically speaking. He had allowed the woman to break him down, because he couldn’t bring himself to fight back. How could he? Even with the magic chalk, he was rusty while Penny had been using hers for years. There would have been no competition.

Rudy still didn’t want to think that the magic chalk would be useless. He might be able to still use it to forge his way out of here. He just...might need to take things slower. One step at a time. Like they say, the slow and steady tortoise wins the race.

...but did he even want to leave..?

That thought took him by surprise. He could feel himself jerking slightly at this, wondering just where the hell that thought could have come from. It made absolutely no sense at all. Of course he would want to get out of this hellhole. Why the hell would he not?

Yet there was still something about this place that kept him drawn in. There was something that was hooking him in here, creating a sort of ball and chain that he had trouble completely breaking out of. It was difficult to explain to himself and he felt an increasing level of frustration as he tried to make sense of it all. He felt his teeth grinding together and he clutched his head tightly. There was no fucking reason why he would want to stay here.

...maybe it was because he felt a degree of security here that he was worried would be lost when he got out…. Here, he had a better idea of things that were going on. True, the Chalk Queen was getting more and more unhinged. But even beside that, he had a better sense of predictability here than he ever did in the Real World. It was sort of like how prisoners often prefer staying in prison, as they get used to the comparatively simple life that prisons offer compared to the bustling, fueled, fast-paced ‘real life’. Was this what he was experiencing now?

The idea made sense. After all, Rudy had been trapped here for years. Of course his brain would get used to things here. He didn’t have much to worry about when he stayed here. Penny provided everything for him. There was no need to fear things like road rage, unemployment, taxes, all that shit. He could just keep his list of worries down to something relatively small compared to someone in the Real World.

But was that necessarily better? Did he really want to live the rest of his life as a prisoner, locked away and unable to do everything that he wanted? Did he want to live this kind of harsh, sheltered life where he was used like a toy, where any amount of resistance would be met with pain?

No, he did not.

With his eyes narrowing softly, Rudy turned his head to look at his piece of magic chalk. With Penny out of sight, he was able to focus without having fear getting in the way. He felt his tongue pressing against the back of his teeth as he stared intently at the small device in his hand, the white stick that could get him out of this. He should use this while he still had the chance.

But what could he do with it? If he could not escape outright, how else would he use the chalk to better his situation? Spying did not seem like a good idea, considering how Penny reacted to finding out that’s what Skrawl had apparently done, or at least, that’s what he imagined had happened. If he himself were to do something, it would need to be different, like…

His eyes widened as realization struck him like a freight train. There was something that he could try. It was still risky, but if he managed to pull it off…

He was stopped by the echoing scream.

sss

With a sharp pull backwards, Penny held the electric device in her hands, shaped like a square and the end looking like a bunch of sparking rollers. As she did so, Skrawl collapsed onto the ground, clutching at his head as his body twisted and squirmed around. The sight was enough to make her smirk, but she tried not to chuckle. This was a serious situation and she didn’t want to get too distracted.

Skrawl looked over at her in the midst of his thrashing, his eyes flashing with many emotions and thoughts. He recognized her for sure, and clearly remembered what had been done to him. He then shut his eyes again and pushed himself into the ground, kicking his legs out as he tried to fight against the sheer agony of it all.

Penny remained still and quiet as Skrawl continued to act in this manner. It might look annoying and he might sound annoying, but this was still a good sign. This meant that her device was working, undoing some of his recent memories, or all of them, or whatever. The electricity would unravel parts of his brain and make it impossible for him to remember certain things. This would, hopefully, include any knowledge that he had regarding Rudy.

Penny wasn’t entirely sure what she was going to do after this. She hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. But she did plan on trying to do something, and she tried to keep her mind steady in preparation for that. Skrawl’s screams echoed in her head. She was able to shrug them off easily and let them run down her back like they were nothing. At this point, she didn’t care how much the jellybean zoner screamed. He deserved this.

Then finally, after a few long moments, the large zoner collapsed into the ground, huffing and puffing, sounding as though he was having a hard time keeping himself breathing. The last remaining sparks flickered in the air and then he was just still completely, not moving much beside a few twitches.

Penny just watched him, keeping herself where she stood, her arms slowly folding across her chest. Her hand still gripped the handle of the device, ready to use it again in case it was necessary. She watched and waited to hear what Skrawl had to say, and from there, determine if she needed to take further action.

She could see Skrawl turning his head to look over at her. She could hear him drawing in more heavy breaths, grating through his throat. His eyes looked dazed and heavy, like he was trying to look at her, like his vision was going bad. She still kept her mouth shut, fearing that speaking might accidentally undo her hard work. She had to allow Skrawl to come back to his senses on his own. Only then would she have a good idea on whether or not he had recovered in a manner that she would have approved of.

Skrawl released a low growl and raised his hand up, rubbing his forehead and seething through clenched teeth. He looked away for a moment, staring off into the distance and blinking as though suffering from blurred vision. He then looked back at Penny and he said, “Wh-What happened..? How long was I asleep? Why do I-I-I feel so funny..?”

While it could still be a trick, Penny was certain, by the tone of the zoner’s voice, that he was being absolutely genuine with his words. He sounded too confused to be faking it. Skrawl was not all that subtle; he wouldn’t be able to pull this off if it were truly fake. She smiled inwardly, silently congratulating herself before she took a step forward towards Skrawl, extending her hand outward.

“Oh, it’s nothing serious.” She said. “You just hit your head hard. That’s all it was.”

Skrawl let out a small grunt as he rubbed his head for a moment. Then he reached out and grabbed Penny’s hand, even if a tad bit reluctantly. Their hands gripped tightly with each other and Penny helped Skrawl up to his feet. With another grumble and wiping himself off, Skrawl said, “W-Well I’m sure I could have handled it myself and all. I mean… I am a genius, you know.”

Penny raised an eyebrow at this. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, giving a small sigh. “I don’t think I want to know what ultimately made you think that it was a good idea going around playing in areas where you should not be.”

Skrawl furrowed his eyes at her. “I’m sure it was very important!” He raised his hand up and motioned it off to one side. “There’s a good reason why I’m the king here!” He only stopped because he must have felt a sharp pain in his side, which caused him to lurch forward and nearly trip into the ground.

Penny raised her hand up and put it to her mouth, chuckling. “Whatever you say, Skrawly.”

The massive green-tinted zoner swerved around and glared right at her, his teeth growing bared. “Don’t you dare call me that!”

Penny merely rolled her eyes. It didn’t really matter what Skrawl said at this point. She had gotten what she wanted out of the situation. She had to be careful not to accidentally invoke any of his memories. They might end up coming back and that wasn’t something that she could afford to happen. So long as Skrawl could not remember anything, she could keep her little secret safe. Now it was just a matter of doubling down on security to make sure that things stayed this way.

Not wanting to just stand around and look suspicious, Penny moved a little closer to Skrawl, giving him a small nudge at his side. “Why don’t you come with me? I have an idea that I think you might like.”

Skrawl raised an eyebrow at this statement. “Oh really now? What idea could you possibly have that would interest me?”

Penny gave him a small smile. “Well I can see why you wouldn’t understand at first. But you’ll sing a different tune when I explain to you why I think you should pay Craniac a visit….”

sss

Rudy put his hands to his head and gritted his teeth as he could still hear those screams echoing inside of his head. He had no idea what to make of it, and his previous risky idea that he was going to try rapidly faded out of his mind. He took in slow, steady breaths as he tried to think of what he was going to do, his mind spinning around in sharp circles. There was little that he could do except wait until the feelings of raw terror passed him by.

He didn’t know who had screamed or why, but he had heard the sheer pain in their voice. And considering what he knew about Penny...

Oh gawd, what she done? What had happened with that zoner? Were they even still alive? Had they been... Was that why... Rudy couldn’t dare finish those thoughts, even if his clogged up mind were more thinned out.

Rudy didn’t know how long it took before he finally gained some semblance of his sanity back. He could still feel his body trembling as he looked left and right, trying to see if he could hear more cries or any evidence that Penny was coming back. He then looked back to the ground, curling himself up into a tighter ball. A few tears moved down his cheeks. He could feel his heart thudding quickly inside of his chest, everything around him just twirling like his mind was just a toy.

It took longer than he would have liked, but he did feel as though he had finally gained some of his mind back. The thoughts began to flow more naturally and his senses around him improved as he no longer blindly searched around for one specific thing. His breathing slowly returned to normal and he raised himself up, straightening his back before arching it, hovering himself over the ground and drawing in one or more breaths. Then his head was lifted upwards.

Rudy let his eyes start to furrow as he reflected on what he just heard. Penny must have been torturing a zoner somewhere in the castle. No doubt that she would be on her way here to ‘visit’ him. She had been doing this a little more frequently than normal. It was almost starting to make the days look like they were all her ‘special’ time with him. This meant that he didn’t have a lot of opportunity to get himself freed from here, unless he tried something now.

But what was that idea he had earlier? That scream had knocked it out of his mind. Now he could feel his head aching as he searched through his head, trying in vain to figure out what it was. The only thing that he could remember was that it would have been risky. But there were a number of risky choices, so that hardly narrowed it down by much.

Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind and he snapped his fingers. Oh yes, didn’t it have something to do trapping Penny and then...

The door creaked open and he could hear footsteps coming inside. A part of him almost expected Skrawl. He almost wished that it were him instead. But of course, as his fear started to curdle in his chest once more, he could see that it was Penny.

Why was she visiting him so often now?

And why was she looking at him like that? Was she going to...

...oh no.

Penny entered the cage swiftly, skipping most of her ‘formalities’ that she would normally use. She kept her focus entirely on him. Rudy hardly had any time to respond before he could feel Penny’s fingers wrapping around his neck and pushing him into the ground.

“W-Wait.. I thought you said...” Rudy started to call out, invoking Penny’s earlier words.

Penny stared at him sternly for a few moments, her head slowly tilting to one side. She opened her mouth to speak, only to suddenly freeze, her eyes going wide as though she spotted something that scared her. This expression was short-lived and faded just as quickly as it came. Rudy had no idea what this meant, but he was deterred from asking as he could see Penny’s furious expression return.

Or was it anger? He couldn’t tell for certain. All that he knew was that, for some reason, Penny suddenly decided to go for the throat and was now holding him down. He didn’t know if this had anything to do with whatever Skrawl might have said. But what he did know is that if he didn’t try to defend himself, if he didn’t try to push back.... He had no idea what Penny had in store for him.

And fight back, he started to do. He raised his foot up and he attempted to push Penny back, or at the very least, hold her away from him. Penny snarled at this and tightened her grip on his throat. The longer they remained like this, the more intense Penny’s glares became, and the more fearful Rudy’s responses were. He could feel his eyes widening swiftly as his heart started to race back up to where it was before. The back of his mind whirled in circles as he tried to figure out just what the hell Penny thought that she was doing. This wasn’t like her. At least, she was usually not this bad and she would usually say something before she.. What the fuck was she doing?

Penny’s hands started to move across his body, a fact that immediately caused him to be alarmed. He tried to twist himself away from her, trying to tug himself free. Penny’s hands moved on him more firmly, along his sides and legs mostly. Rudy let out a small cry of fear as he kicked one of his legs out. He didn’t hit anything, but he could still hear Penny grunt sharply, as though she were directly hit.

Finally, Penny did let him go. She moved back quickly, allowing Rudy to move away from her, only stopping when the chains would not allow him to go any further. He looked up at Penny with fear, shaking as he looked into her wild, narrowed eyes, wondering just what the fuck she was doing.

Penny’s expression softened up and she let out a small sigh. Rudy felt a bit of confusion when he noticed that she seemed to sound a little relieved. This did little to ease up the tension and he found himself turning away from her. He could feel himself shuddering as he heard her voice starting to flow out of her mouth.

“Good, looks like he didn’t plant anything on you.”

Rudy looked up at Penny swiftly, blinking his eyes rapidly as his mouth dropped partially open. “Wh...”

“I was looking to see if Skrawl tried to pull a fast one and marked you with a camera. I didn’t feel anything wrong, so I suppose he didn’t.” Penny put her hand on her hip, moving it to one side. “Well considering this is Skrawl, he probably didn’t think that far ahead.” She gave a quick chuckle, a sound that had a tinge to it that made Rudy wonder how much Penny actually believed her own remark. “Or I could do a more thorough exam of... Nah, I don’t think I’d have to. Not like he’ll remember.”

“What do you mean?” Rudy looked at Penny in disbelief. “How would he not...” He then caught the look in Penny’s eyes. There was a flash of something in her expression, which caused his eyes to start widen big. He could feel horror starting to rise up inside of himself as he realized what this meant. He leaned himself away further, almost falling onto his back as his hands struggled to keep him balanced. “You didn’t...”

Penny gave him a solemn expression. She paused, as though letting the reality sink into his head. She tilted her head slightly up. The only thing that she said was, “I didn’t have a choice.”

No... She couldn’t have done that... That was too f... Why would she...

Rudy could feel his mind exploding with many thoughts as he realized that Penny had some something to Skrawl that erased his memory. She had purposefully fooled around with the mind of a zoner, a living breathing person... Sure, Skrawl was not exactly the nicest person and he did understand why she would want him to stay away. But to erase his memories, that was such a risky and unethical move. What would happen if the zoners found out about what he had done? How would they react?

Rudy didn’t attempt to say anything as Penny watched him carefully. He could feel those eyes borrowing into his soul, trying to find any portion of resistance that would give reason for her to act. Rudy couldn’t dare to challenge Penny on that. Not without accidentally making him look like he was in cahoots with Skrawl, which would be all too easy when it came to how Skrawl snuck in here and talked to him in the first place.

“...I can see I worry you.” Penny said calmly. Rudy wasn’t able to answer. Penny stared at him for several long moments before sighing and looking away. “Doesn’t really matter. You need not worry about it.” She looked back at him, giving a small smile to him. “At least know that you don’t need to worry about surprise visitors anymore.” She leaned in towards him. “I’m the only one that you should watch out for.”

Rudy immediately pressed himself into the ground. He let his body slightly curl as he pressed his fingers against the ground, instinctively trying to dig with his fingernails, as though Penny was going to strike him down at any moment or something. He shut his eyes tightly and he waited for her to say something else.

He jolted when he could feel her hand moving across the top of his head, playing with his hair. Rudy didn’t dare look up. He just kept himself on the ground, silently hoping that she would just leave. He couldn’t begin to try to return his thoughts to figuring out a trap for her. Not while she was here. It was like her presence was creating a huge block that was just forcing him to relent to her.

Even when Penny stopped stroking him, he still refused to look at her. He still couldn’t bring himself to silently discuss his ideas, to figure out when he could try to make his move. He could still feel Penny’s hands on him, even when she had leaned away, even when she showed no intent on doing that again. She might still try again when he was least expecting it, and she would find that he had a piece of magic chalk, and he could only just begin to imagine how she could react. The idea caused him to shudder in fear.

“Oh Rudy...” Penny said, her voice almost a sing along.

It was difficult for Rudy to lift his head up. It felt so rigid and stiff, and he thought he nearly broke something with how fast he moved his neck. But he still managed to stare at Penny in he eyes, drawing in a few quieted breaths. He immediately quivered when he saw her motioning her finger in a way that he knew that she wanted him to come over.

“Come on over.” Penny said, making sure that he understood her intent.

Rudy didn’t attempt to fight back. Such a move would be too risky. He forced himself to crawl over, swallowing whatever pride that he had remaining. He forced himself to lay down next to her, his eyes wide and looking in one direction. He didn’t dare try to look up at her face. He just held still, trying to remain silent, as Penny’s hand moved along the back of his hair and along his neck and back, petting him slowly. Rudy closed his eyes and reluctantly permitted this action to continue.

He silently hoped that Penny had no real intention to go further than this. He hoped that this was not a prelude into anything. The thought made him uncomfortable. He had no idea if the discovery of Skrawl’s actions were going to cause her to do something drastic. The only way to tell was to wait, but that wasn’t exactly the most comforting thought.

And yet despite his fears, he did almost...enjoy this. It did at least feel better than her trying to hurt him. There was something about her gentle caresses that were starting to help him relax. That sensation of skin moving against skin, the warmth from the friction that it created.... He could feel himself relaxing a little more, his body becoming less tense and....

No, he shouldn’t let himself lower his guard. Rudy shook his head mentally and quickly resumed being on his guard, becoming hyper aware of how her hand was moving against him. What had originally felt good was now starting to almost hurt, and he nearly started to move away in one direction, only stopped when he felt her rubbing him slightly harder. It was as though she realized what he wanted to do and she was preventing it from happening.

The silence that followed weighed heavily on Rudy’s mind. Penny continued to stroke him. As he became a bit lost in his own thoughts, he noticed her hand a little less with each motion. But he was still painfully aware of her presence and his heart yanked and twisted from one side to the other. He tried to think of just what she was going to do.

It was still tempting to try to kick at Penny and run off. She had forgotten to lock the door. He could fight against the pain in his leg and get out and lock the door to trap her. He did have a piece of chalk of his own, and it was possible Penny didn’t have hers. Or if she did, she might be slow enough to reach for it that Rudy could create something to help him get away. The thought still filled him up with anxiety, but also hope. If he managed to succeed, then he would finally be free.

But hope still had its own of fears. When he was down, he didn’t have the additional worry of something going on. It was when hope was placed into the mix that things become more complicated. If he hinged too much hope on an escape plan, too much hope on the idea of ever getting out of here, he was only setting himself up for failure. And with that failure would come a chuckle of stress and anxiety to add onto what he was already feeling. He was certain that he’d be so sick that he’d throw up.

He nearly yelped out of surprise when he could feel Penny grabbing onto him and pulling him upward a little, her arm looping behind his back to steady him. Rudy was not able to look anywhere but into her eyes, her fingers gripping his chin tightly to ensure that. He could see some sort of glow of intent in her eyes and he had no idea what to expect. He tried his best to keep himself as calm as possible.

But something told him that Penny wouldn’t allow him to remain calm for long.

“Say, Rudy... Do you know if Skrawl did anything...else while he was here?”

Rudy stiffened up, but dared not to reply.

Penny released his chin so that she could tap her chin with one finger. “I mean, I know that Skrawl is a bit smart at times. He can be so surprising. I don’t think that he would visit you just to make you keep a secret. He always has a motive in what he does.” She tilted her head slightly to one side. “I would ask him myself, but you know how that would go. Heheheh.... So, Rudy..” Penny leaned in a little. She remained smiling, an edge of creepiness hooking on the corners of her mouth. “Can you please tell me if something else went on between you two? I would much appreciate any new information you could tell me.”

Rudy tried his best not to let himself look fearful in front of her, or do anything that would make her suspicious of him. He didn’t know for certain if Penny really did believe that he was hiding something or not. But what he was sure of is that if he revealed to know anything else at all, if he slightly hinted at it, she might find out that he mad magic chalk. And he had a good feeling of what she would do if she found this out.

This made him almost want to curl into a tight ball to hide the fact that he had the magic chalk hidden in his clothing. He was lucky that she hadn’t felt it earlier when she was searching for a hidden camera. He might not be so lucky again if she decided to do that a second time. He struggled to think of a response. Answering as quickly as he could, he said the first thing that came to his mind.

“N-Nothing, really. Just complained about you, but that’s to be expected, right?” The young man gave a weak smile. “Y-You know how he is.”

Penny nodded her head. “Indeed, I do. But I have a feeling that he did something else besides that.” She turned her head one way, her eyes furrowing slightly. “If he was watching me, and through that, figured out where this place was... I doubt he would come all this way just to ‘talk’ to you. I think there was something more.” She moved her hand up and down Rudy’s cheek. “There’s no need to be afraid to tell me. I just want to cover all my bases.”

Rudy gulped, swallowing loudly. “I know. I’m telling you the truth.” He tried his best to keep himself still, keeping his guys upon Penny. “I really didn’t hear anything else from him. I t-t-told you already wh-what he did.”

“And I told you that I can’t really believe he wouldn’t try something. If he didn’t plant a camera on you, then..” Penny paused and leaned herself a bit aways from Rudy. She scratched her chin thoughtfully, her eyes furrowing as thoughts raced through her mind. Her eyes lowered a little, and then almost appeared to flicker, as though a thought had emerged. “I know that he would have tried to find a way to undermine my power. Perhaps he did this by....giving you an advantage...”

Rudy felt his heart already starting to race. He was struggling so hard not to shiver, not to show any signs of fear, anything that would give himself away. Yet he was not able to stop himself from drawing in a sharp gasp as Penny leaned in closer. He could feel a drop of sweat starting to move down his face and cheek. It dripped onto the ground below him. He held as still as possible as he kept his eyes on Penny, a low whimper struggling to escape through his tightly shut mouth.

Penny moved her hand up slowly, touching his hair lightly and giving it a few gentle strokes. “I know that you wouldn’t keep such a secret from me. Not when you know what would happen...” She tightened her grip briefly, just enough to make Rudy flinch and whimper loudly. “I do hope that I don’t have to remind you.”

“...n-no...” Rudy managed to whisper.

Penny smiled at this. “Well I’m glad to hear that, Rudy.” She released her grip, letting Rudy sigh in relief. Then she said, “So come on. Tell me what went down between you two. What else did Skrawl do? If he did not place a camera on you, then he must have done something else.” She cupped Rudy’s chin, forcing it to be titled up slightly. “Please tell me what he had attempted. He didn’t...threaten you, I hope?”

Rudy blinked at this. “No, he didn’t.” He said as he shook his head. “He didn’t lay a claw on me.”

“So whatever he had done with you, it couldn’t have involved touching you.” Penny said. She stared at Rudy and seemed to take his silence as a yes. “I see.... Then it would have been something different. He would have needed to touch you to plant in a camera. But he still could have...” She paused for a moment, then continued, “...give you something..?”

Immediately, Rudy gave a sharp jerk that he could not control. This did not go unnoticed by Penny.

“What did he give you, Rudy?” Penny asked, her voice firm and rigid. When Rudy did not answer right away, she spoke up again, her voice becoming slightly deeper. “Rudy...”

“H-He didn’t give me anything. I-I-I don’t know where you’re getting that idea...” Rudy replied, stuttering as he tried to speak. He accidentally bit his own tongue and yelped, but he still managed to keep talking. “Y-You’re the one who came to that c-c-conclusion. I-I never said that he gave me something.”

“But it would make the most sense that he would. Don’t act like you don’t know how Skrawl is.” Penny’s voice hadn’t grown any darker, but it almost felt like it had. Rudy didn’t know how long Penny would remain relatively calm like this. “Do not make this harder than it needs to be. Just tell me what he gave you.”

Rudy shook his head. “Nothing, I swear!”

Penny’s eyes narrowed further. “If you don’t tell me what he gave you, then I will force my way to find out myself. And trust me, you won’t like it if I have to do that.”

Rudy gulped at this.

Penny gripped his shoulders tightly, holding him up, her fingers pressing against his shoulders. “Stop trying to lie to me. Answer my question: what did Skrawl give you?”

“I-I...” Rudy struggled to think of what to say. He didn’t want to reveal to Penny that he had a piece of magic chalk. It was the only way that he might be able to escape. If she tried to take it away from him.... “Please, Chalk Queen... I...”

“I’m not going to repeat myself again.” Penny snarled, narrowing her eyes further. She pushed Rudy a bit roughly against the ground, using her height advantage to assert her dominance. It was clear that she was getting to the point where she was starting to lose her patience. Rudy realized that he wasn’t going to get out of this. He stared at her fearfully as she said, “Tell me what he gave you....now...”

Rudy struggled to think of how he was going to respond, his mind feeling like it was starting to spin faster than before. He shifted his eyes from her, down to his clothing where he had the piece of magic chalk hidden, then looked back up at Penny. He did this a few times, inadvertently making her realize that he was hiding something from her. He could see how her eyes started to flash in realization and she started to move her hand down.

At this, Rudy couldn’t resist for any longer. He had to do something to keep her from finding that chalk. He needed it. He couldn’t let her have it. He did the only thing that he could think of doing and his hand shot out upwards, grabbing onto Penny’s damaged arm.

The woman’s eyes widened big and she let out a loud scream. It sent chills through Rudy’s body, forcefully reminding him of that incident so many years ago, when Snap’s cries echoed in his head. Rudy could feel Penny yanking her arm back, scrambling to get away from him. He did feel a small pang of guilt, but that was overridden by fear and determination. He did let go and he immediately scrambled back, his body going rigid and his arms raising up slightly, preparing for what he knew was going to come.

Penny looked down at her hand for a few moments, turning it slowly from one side to the other as she examined her arm where Rudy had grabbed it. She stared at it longer than necessary, probably in shock that Rudy had been so bold as to try to grab onto her like that.

Then those dark brown eyes shifted his way. Rudy could immediately tell just how fucked he was right now. He could see how much her eyes were ablaze and he couldn’t help but swallow hard as he tried to move himself back from her. But he could go no further, just flattening himself against the ground like he were a piece of paper as Penny moved in towards him, leaning over him like a massive tower. She was breathing heavily as though trying her hardest to hold herself back.

But it wasn’t to last.

Slowly, Penny started to give off a bitter chuckle. There was no humor in her voice as her fingers curled in against themselves. She could see the glow in her eyes becoming brighter, almost tinging red, though that might have been Rudy’s imagination. It was still rather fitting.

“S-So you are hiding something. Oh dear Rudy, y-y-you know b-better than that...” Penny’s voice sounded as though it were squirming to not be shaky. “I guess I am just going t-t-to have to take it f-f-from y-you myself.”

Rudy felt his eyes go wide and he immediately shouted, “N-No, that’s not n-necessary! I-I’ll give it to you! J-Just don...”

“Oh it’s way too late for that, Rudy.” Penny’s whole body went tense, her fingers flexing with eagerness. “You’ve just forced my hand.”

Rudy immediately raised his hands up in self defense. “N-No, please!”

It was no use. Penny was clearly not in the mood to listen. Rudy hardly had time to react when he could feel Penny ramming against him. He was knocked heavily into the ground, air being knocked out of his mouth from the force of the impact. Then he felt his world explode in an avalanche of pain and agony.

“Aaaaahhh!”


	15. Tear Apart And Regret

Penny wasn’t really sure what was going on around her. Everything just became a blurry mess of colors and everything appeared to be distorted. She couldn’t even tell if she was still in the same room or not. It was like everything was becoming one giant blob of a blur.

Not that it mattered. She was aware enough to know that she was not alone here. She could see that Rudy was here with her. She recalled what Rudy had done to her, how he had dared to defy her. She could still feel the waves of pain in her arm and she gritted her teeth tightly, feeling the anger burning inside of her, providing more than enough warmth for her. It was almost to the point where she didn’t even need to wear something to protect her body temperature.

She was moving on her own, as though her arms and legs had all on their own. She could hear Rudy’s screams echoing in her head, piercing through every neuron and electrode residing inside of her. She felt her own mouth going dry as she shouted at him. She didn’t know what she was saying, other than it related to how stupid he was and how he needed to be taught a lesson.

She could hear him crying out each time she kicked him. She felt the force of each impact and she could hear how it echoed everywhere in the room. She hit him in his stomach and chest mostly, concentrating on these areas for maximum effect. She could hear his coughs and whimpers from each blow, which in turn caused her to hit him even more. She felt her mind burn and become increasingly eager to hit him each time she heard him make a sound. She could feel her face growing a twisted smile and she could hear herself release a dark chuckle.

She grabbed onto him and started to punch him with her bad hand. Her adrenaline burning inside of her was enough to make her forget about this detail. She struck at him again and again, hitting him in the face and chest. She could see that bruises were starting to form and she thought she could see a bit of blood running down the corner of his mouth. But she still went for him, driven by her emotions to make sure that he never forgot what was happening to him.

Once she was done with striking him like this, she grabbed onto his arm and roughly lifted him up. She allowed him to stand only once before using her elbow to slam into him, jabbing her joint into his stomach. This caused Rudy to let out a screech of agony and he coughed and spluttered, his breathing becoming ragged. Penny realized that she could have stopped here, but she instead just kept going. Her foot was launched and made its way against his stomach. The impact caused Rudy’s body to arch upwards and blood splattered out of his mouth. Penny hit him a few more times, harder and harder still, and more redness came.

Penny’s churning mind tried to think of what else that she could do to make Rudy pay. She could feel her mind becoming dominated by thoughts and dark emotions, fueled by past anger at his incompetence at failing to save Snap. She was operating on autopilot practically at this point, her eyes wide and pupils nothing more than mere dots.

There was a small part of her that was crying out for her to stop, that she had done enough already. But this was overridden by the burning emotions that dominated her mind right now. She could only look for more ways to hurt the young man at her feet. Her mind felt like it was on fire and she felt the ground beneath her moving around as she struggled to figure out something. There had to be something else that she could do. Her teeth ground tightly together as she looked at him intently.

Then her body just reacted on its own. She threw herself at him, using her whole body like a weapon. She crashed down with most of her weight going against his chest. She could hear a few cracks and Rudy starting to gurgle a little. But she paid it no heed as she grabbed onto his arm and started to pull it back, bending it in the opposite direction and attempting to apply pressure to it.

Rudy’s eyes flew open and he started to struggle helplessly on the ground. He begged and pleaded with her to let go. Penny did not listen to him and continued to push down on his arm. She could feel the tendons and muscles inside straining as she tried to push them beyond their limits.

Then with one hard push, she could hear something start to crack. The joint was still intact, but she had done enough damage to make Rudy scream out in agony.

“Aaaahh!” Rudy’s face was covered in tears and he immediately started thrashing on the ground. “Stop! It hurts! Please, I...” Rudy’s eyes widened as another shooting sharp pain went through his arm. He pulled his head back and let out another scream. “Yaaaaahhhh...!”

This second scream echoed more heavily, reaching a higher pitch level than his other screams. It sent physical pain through Penny’s ears and she had to let go of him, covering her ears to protect herself. She shook her head about as she scrambled backwards. She rubbed against her head as she tried to get that sharp feeling out of her head. She shook her head once and she turned to snarl at Rudy, only to freeze at what she saw.

‘Snap’? Again? Penny shook her head and rubbed her eyes. She looked again, but ‘Snap’ was still there. She felt a small sting in her stomach, but she still snarled at him and rose up to her feet. Her body trembled hard, feeling her neck hairs rising up in end.

“Wh-What are you doing here...?” Penny demanded. She was no longer aware of Rudy. Her attention and mind was only on ‘Snap’ standing before her.

‘Snap’ gave a small chuckle, giving her a twisted smile that was almost familiar yet still contorted. “I see you couldn’t resist. You say that you are better than him. But you turn out to be worse.”

Penny growled softly as she took a step back. She didn’t know what this horrible hallucination was talking about. But she was forced to interact with it. She could not drive it back any other way. “I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about! Just go away, you horrible thing!”

“It’s so cute that you say that, when you aren’t noticing what’s right in front of you.” ‘Snap’ taunted her. He motioned his hand to one side and said, “You like to act like you’re some pillar of justice and morality. But you’re just lying to yourself, just a little pretender. You’re no different than the cretins that you act exist all around you.”

“And you’re just a faker trying to act like you’re actually Snap!” Penny shouted back. “Why the hell should I listen to anything that you say?”

‘Snap’ shrugged his shoulders. “Well I suppose that I can’t convince you of that. But it matters not what you think I am.” His smile grew ever more twisted, a glint showing up in those soulless white eyes that dared to mimic her deceased friend. She was not going to fall for them again. “You still managed to turn yourself into the very person you claim deserves what he’s gotten from you, the person that you say was the cause of all your troubles.”

“...what the hell are you talking about...?” Penny’s voice was a low hiss. She took a few steps back, arching her body as she prepared for an attack. ‘Snap’ must be trying to force her guard to lower down. “This is some kind of a trick, isn’t it...?”

‘Snap’ turned his head to one side. He gave a small chuckle. “I don’t know...how about you ask...him..?”

Penny followed the hand’s motion, looking to see what ‘Snap’ was referring to. And when her eyes laid upon the sight, she immediately recoiled, her mind exploding as reality settled in with one fell swoop.

There, on the ground, was Rudy. This in of itself didn’t surprise her. What did was just how bad he actually looked. She....She didn’t remember being this awful to him.

Rudy was covered in bruises and large specks of blood. His clothes were mostly in tact, with a few tears. Those hardly went noticed by Penny as her wide eyes looked over his body, observing the damage that she had done to him. He had spilled a good amount of blood on the ground and there was still flow coming out of his mouth. It looked like one or two teeth were knocked loose with one of them on the ground. His shirt was lifted up enough from the attack to expose the deep, dark purple bruises of his stomach. When she recalled that crack, she realized that she must have broken a few of his ribs.

Rudy was curled up into a small ball on the ground. He was sobbing and wailing, trying to wriggle about to escape the pain. When he looked over and saw her, his eyes filled up with a raw terror that she had never seen from him before. He scrambled to get away from her, covering his head with his arms. This was not entirely new behavior, but it was taken to a more extreme level, bringing her back to.....that time.

Penny felt her eyes widening a little as her mind flashed with memories on what happened that day. She could see herself losing control, rage taking her over as she rushed at a clearly terrified Rudy. She had convinced herself that he was responsible for Snap dying and she had wanted to make him pay, like she did now. Then she drew a bat and then...

The image of a young Rudy writhing on the ground burned into the back of her mind. She could see how the pain caused him to collapse, just a still doll upon the ground.

And as this thought crossed her mind, it melted and gave away to what she was seeing now. A similar level of fear and panic and pain... Rudy trying to get away from her more desperately than before. She looked down at her hands for a moment to see that they had a bit of blood on them. Rudy’s blood to be exact. The sight of it caused her mind to have another flashback as she recalled seeing some red before Snap just.... Slowly she lifted her head back up and stared back at Rudy, drawing in a few deep breaths.

Immediately her mind was hounded with many fast-moving thoughts, bouncing and conflicting with one another. She could feel her breathing becoming heavy and forced. She felt her mouth going a tad bit dryer than before. Her head ached as it struggled to cope with her fast-moving thoughts and she felt a little dizzy.

She could hear the voice of ‘Snap’ entering her head as she continued to stare at Rudy in astonishment and shock.

“You are no better than he is. You are on the same level as him. Just a fucked up person who screwed things up. But at least he knows when to take the blame. You only shirk it and continue to live a lie. How long can you keep this up, Buckette? Look at what you’ve done.”

Penny shook her head slowly, not wanting to believe it. She had been there. She knew what had happened. She could never go back to thinking that she had anything to do with what happened. She had been the one to come up with a plan to stop Skrawl. Rudy would have been too late. If he had just listened to her....

Well he didn’t know anything and...

No, he should have realized what she was doing. He had known her well enough. It was his own damn fault that things had gone the way that they had. He was the reason Snap was dead, not her. She wasn’t about to take responsibility for something that wasn’t her fault. That gawd damn fucking....

Her thoughts were stopped when she heard Rudy giving off another loud whimper. She swung her head to the right to see Rudy laying there still, quivering and crying in sheer agony, suffering from the injuries she had given him. She saw how he was cradling his arm to himself, the one that she had tried to break. Rudy laid there on the ground, no longer looking at her, as though too terrified. He was crying so much that she thought that he was going start to choke. Some of the blood was already drying up, caking against his skin and becoming something like hardish jello.

Penny stood where she was, her own body starting to shake with emotion. She drew in a slow breath before she forced herself to take a few steps towards Rudy. Her mind was so filled with rapid thoughts that she wasn’t able to concentrate all that well. All she could do was just stare at Rudy as she steadily got closer to him.

But Rudy could hear her and he immediately turned his head to her. He didn’t let out another scream, but he did immediately get into a more defensive position. He curled up into an even tighter ball and if he had a tail, it would have curled up around him more securely. His green eyes grew wider, the life from them looking a bit...cracked for a lack of a better terminology. His nose was wet from all the crying, as well as his tears becoming reddened and flushed. His eyes were a reddish color as well as the tears kept coming out of them. His teeth were slightly gritted, bared as though to try to scare her off.

Penny would normally feel some amount of pride in this, but something about this time around, in this situation, it was just....different. It didn’t feel right. She could feel a sharp pang in her stomach, one that grew stronger and twisted her stomach up inside. Yet she still kept pushing herself forward. She wasn’t sure why. Something was compelling her to move closer. There was something about this that was drawing her in.

Then she realized it.

Rudy was reminding her of Snap.

Immediately her mind started to replace Rudy with Snap. Not when he was tied up, but before then. She had pretended then as well, acting like she had joined up with Skrawl, and she recalled how scared Snap was in that moment. He had begged with her to let him go, but she still tied him up anyway, even forcing him to wear that stupid outfit, as if his death wasn’t bad enough already.

And then...

Penny tried to push the thought out of her head. But when she looked back at Rudy, she saw how he lifted his head up and she could still see Snap’s terrified face. This flickered back and forth with Snap’s and Rudy’s faces and she started to cringe back a little, her hands planting themselves against her cheeks.

Rudy was still clearly seeing her as a threat, and in a move that made her think so much of Snap back then, as well as Rudy’s initial terrified reaction of her when she first attacked him so long ago, a weak, shaky voice emanated from the boy’s trembling mouth.

“P-Please don’t hurt me... I-I’ll be g-g-good... I promise...”

This was enough to draw a small gasp from Penny’s mouth and she felt a lump forming in her throat. She tried to take a step back, but she remained where she was, her head thudding as though someone were hitting her internally with sticks. She started to see Rudy as a young child, when he was first attacked by her, how terrified he was of her... This look that he was giving her was filled with the same amount of terror as it had been back then.

Penny felt her stomach lurch when she recalled just how young Rudy had been back then. He was only ten years old. That young, and then the diamond bat and...

Penny felt the color draining from her face. She put her hand over her mouth and she took a small step back. She could feel her body shaking a little harder, her tongue going over her lips in an attempt to try to wet them, but somehow, they only seemed to be getting increasingly dryer. This coincided with the emotions that rose up as she stared at Rudy, unable to look away.

“R-Rudy...?” Penny finally managed to choke out.

Suddenly, Rudy gave a sharp twist to one side, his eyes widening almost to the point of them rolling out of his sockets. He gave a loud cry of pain before he suddenly collapsed to the ground. At first, Penny thought that he was just struggling too much and this was irritating his wounds. But then she saw that his body went entirely limp and unresponsive, as if he had turned off reality all around him.

In that moment, Penny felt everything start to crash around her. For the first time, when she saw Rudy, she didn’t merely see the one that she had blamed for Snap’s death for years. Instead, she saw the young child that had once been someone she could call a friend. She could remember his smiling face, the way he laughed...and that became distorted when she recalled his screams and shouts of fear, trying to get away from her. And how he had been....

Penny put her hands to her mouth and shook her head slowly, not wanting to believe it. A part of her was shouting at her, trying to tell her that there was no reason for her to care about Rudy, that he was a murderer, a monster. That part of her attempted to take over her mind, to tear through her other thoughts and color her behavior.

Vinnie’s words started to echo in her mind. She could hear him taunting her about Rudy’s supposed death. She could hear his laughter. This all went on inside of her head as she stared down at Rudy before her, feeling her breathing increasing rapidly, everything inside of her just stinging horribly. Unable to control herself, she wound up doing something that she hadn’t done in a long time.

She screamed Rudy’s name in horror.

“Rudy...!”

Penny wasn’t able to stop herself from rushing over to where Rudy was. She could hardly remember the trip over. She was only aware of herself dropping down next to him, her hands hovering over him and quivering as she looked him over, trying to think of what she could do. She bit her lip firmly before she grabbed onto Rudy and shook him, trying to rouse him up. But it was clear after a few shakes that he wasn’t going to wake up. This realization caused her to let him go and stare at him with horror.

After looking over his body again, after seeing those injuries and feeling more emotion hitting her than just anger, she could feel herself asking a single question.

What had she done?

Penny shook her head and tried not to focus too much on that. She shifted gears as dormant memories of what she learned from her vet mother started to come into play. Her horror was a bit lessened as determination swept into her mind. Perhaps she was going to grow to regret this later, but right now, that thought hardly had a place inside of her skull. She gritted her teeth and then she immediately rushed over to a nearby cabinet.

She felt a sharp pang in her stomach when she realized she didn’t have much in the way of first aid. This was because she hardly ever hurt Rudy badly enough that she needed them. But she still grabbed what she needed, including painkillers and some bandages, and rushed back to the fallen man’s side. Dropping down onto her knees once more, she immediately went to work trying to tend to Rudy’s wounds.

But were they going to be enough...?

sss

It hadn’t taken long for Skrawl to reach the Future Dome. Not even twenty minutes, he’d presume. Then again, he hadn’t exactly stopped for anything. He just immediately walked over her after the Chalk Queen had told him to. She didn’t come with, but that did not matter. Skrawl would not require her assistance for what he was about to do.

The large jellybean zoner stopped as he reached the underneath of the structure. He furrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. It had always bothered him how this was always floating up in the air. That might have been how it was designed, but he thought that, by now, Craniac would have figured out an easier method of getting inside of this place. Oh well, not like that robot would really listen to any advice he had to give.

The only way to get up here now without magic chalk assistance or Cranaic’s support or his Beanie Boys was to just wait for one of the idiotic skateboarders with malfunctioning rocket-powered skates fell over the edge. It was uncanny how often these guys were created. Not that he minded it. At least it provided some form of transportation.

Skrawl could hear a loud yell above him, causing him to lift up his head. He narrowed his eyes a little further as he saw something flailing over the edge. He could see the small form falling downward, spinning and twisting around from the fall itself. Skrawl let out a small sigh as he rubbed his head, shaking it from side to side. Do children these days really not know how physics work? No, that has nothing to do with it. It was more these kids purposely made these things this way as if they were hilarious.

Okay they kind of were. But they were still annoying to have to go through constantly. The only thing that he was glad for is that they couldn’t just jam their way into this world so easily.

Skrawl made his way towards the falling zoner. He watched as they fell, his mismatched eyes keeping themselves glued to the image. The zoner crashed painfully into the ground, a loud thud echoing throughout the air. He flinched and turned away for a few moments, and then stared right back. He blinked a few times as he stared at the zoner now peaking out of the ground, body halfway buried. The feet were sticking up and kicking back and forth, somehow still alive after the fall. Did these kids make these people more resilient just so they could keep planting their faces in the ground? Such clever little devils…

Skrawl shook those thoughts out of his head as he made his way over to the feet that were still exposed. He grabbed onto them with little fanfare, doing nothing to acknowledge the zoner. He thought he could hear them muffling but he just ignored him as he turned around and walked away, turning his head up as he stared at the massive floating structure that was the Future Dome. Without hesitation, Skrawl slipped the rocket shoes on his feet and activated them.

And he immediately regretted it.

Skrawl was glad that he hooked them up tightly to his limbs, otherwise he would have been falling already. Within seconds, he was high up in the air, moving around in random circles and directions as he struggled to figure this thing out. All the while, he could hear the flames shooting out and he could feel the heat from them. He had to constantly twist his body to one side to try to avoid the heat burning his skin. Despite that, he thought he could still smell something smoking behind him.

The vision all around him became blurry, looking more like colorful shooting stars that filled up everything that his eyes could see. Whenever he would turn, he could see these ‘stars’ turning in unison with him. Several colors started to blend together and it was hard for him to focus. He couldn’t even tell where he was for what felt like several minutes. He could feel himself turning in what felt like all directions. The wind jushed at his face and practically distorted it. He eventually had to shut his eyes to try to calm the headache he was getting from too much visual input at once.

But being in the darkness as he was turning around like this didn’t help him much, either. Now he felt like he was on a merry-go-round that was set to the highest setting. He tried to grab onto the bar so that he wouldn’t fall until he remembered that there wasn’t such a thing. He squirmed about wildly as he tried to figure out something that he could do. In the process, as he felt himself suddenly going a little faster, he forced his red and blue eyes open.

Skrawl tried not to scream when he saw that he was hanging upside down, the ground above him and sky below him. He cringed inward and held onto himself as that was the only thing that he could do. The whole vision before him was disorientating. He had to shut his eyes once more and grit his teeth tightly. Taking a gamble, he tried to swerve himself upward. This caused him to do a few somersaults and some quick spins. And then before he knew it, he felt himself crashing against something solid, the boots’ flames pushing him roughly against it.

He forced his eyes open and he looked around slowly. He was still upside down, but he was pushing up against the walls of one of the buildings. A few of the Future Dome inhabitants were looking at him with weird expressions on their faces. Skrawl felt an ache spreading throughout his back as he realized that he was bent in such a painful and awkward way. He snarled as he kicked his feet outward to send the rocket shoes flying and he used his hands to push himself forward, causing him to crash into the ground. He laid on his back and groaned a little. Why couldn’t it just be the usual skateboards? Why shoes? He would have to be more careful in the future.

Skrawl pushed himself up and rubbed his head. He turned to stare at the zoners that had gathered around him. He could now tell that it looked like a group of teenage punk cyborgs, each of them sporting something old-style about them, as if from the era of more blocky robots. Skrawl narrowed his eyes after a few moments and started to head towards them, forming small fists with his hands and arching his back to tower over them.

“What the hell are you looking at? Get away from me! Shoo!” Skrawl snarled as he motioned his hands forward, causing the teenage cyborgs to turn tail and split. He glared at them as they ran before shifting his gaze towards the tall thermometer that was the elevator into Craniac’s base. He flinched at the sight of it, his skin already burning from the thought.

Well, he might as well get it done and over with.

When Skrawl got up to the thermometer elevator, he tilted his head back and looked up at it, his eyes slowly widening as he could see what was before him. He could feel his eyes becoming a little blurred as he could feel the heat even from where he stood. A part of him wished that Craniac would make something better than this. But the robot zoner claimed that this was all that he had. The only thing that Skrawl could do was just take it and be glad that there was at least some way to get up here. Unlike getting in here in the first place….

He set aside his grumbling as he forced himself to head on onto the elevator. The door shut to lock him inside. The heat was already simmering down at his feet. But he knew that this was only just the beginning. He swallowed hard as he pressed the button and waited for the elevator to activate.

There was a sudden quick motion, a flash of heat striking him, and he felt his body being flung as he was rammed up at the ceiling from the force of the movements. He stayed up here for several moments before dropping back into the ground. He laid there for a few seconds, his body trembling from such a quick motion. He rubbed his head and got himself up to his feet. He had to grab onto the door frame to keep himself from collapsing into the ground.

“Oh, I see that you experienced the new upgrade I have given the elevator.” Came a voice. “I hope you like them.”

Skrawl turned his head and released a low, hissing growl as he saw Craniac coming towards him. He struggled to keep himself up to his feet as he took a step forward. This caused him to jerk, his head feeling like it was spinning. He could hardly control it. He didn’t know how long this was going to last, a fact that made him feel a bit queasy inside.

Regardless, he managed to hold his ground. Even with his body slick with sweat and his antenna curving down from the weight of the salty fluids, it didn’t matter. He was still up here and he was going to give Craniac a piece of his mind. He raised his hand up and pointed at the pale crimson robot zoner right before him.

“Y-You could have warned me first…” He said. He coughed a few times, exhausted and feeling a little heavy. “D-Don’t know….what was so d-difficult...about putting up a fucking sign!”

Craniac shrugged his shoulders, if they could even be called that. “Whatever, at least you are here now. And I take it I should know what you are here for.” The robot turned his back to Skrawl and motioned with his claw arm for him to follow. “Come in a little deeper where it’s cooler. I might have made the elevator even faster, but it’s also gotten a lot hotter too, as you can see.”

Skrawl wiped the sweat from his brow. He looked at his hand and reeled from seeing how it was soaked with fluid. He curled his lip up into a snarl and shook his hand, feeling disgust growing in his chest. “Yes, I can see that.”

The two zoners headed in deeper into the base. The further away that they got, the faster the temperature seemed to drop. Skrawl could feel himself filling up with relief as the air around him started to fade into a more reasonable temperature. Even something like eighty degrees felt more like sixty to him given the intense heat trap that he was stuck in for a few seconds.

When they got about ten feet away from the elevator, Skrawl could finally fully relax. He didn’t care that there were no chairs here. He just plopped against the ground, setting and leaning himself against the ground. The coolness of the floor further helped to ‘put out the fire’ on his skin, so to speak. He was almost tempted to just lay here and rest. But he reminded himself that he wasn’t here to fall asleep. He quickly got back up to his feet, ignoring the confused look that Cranaic was giving him.

“Yes, well anyway…” Skrawl brushed himself off. He turned to give a small glare to Craniac. “I think we may proceed.”

“Thanks for the permission.” Craniac said sarcastically. But he didn’t really dwell on that too much. He cleared his throat, or something like that, and used his hand to motion out towards Skrawl. “How did everything go?”

Skrawl couldn’t help but smile twistedly. “Absolutely splendid!”

Craniac tilted his head slightly. “So she fell for it?”

“Like a chump!” Skrawl declared, chuckling to himself. “She didn’t even realize that I was just acting.”

“Splendid! I guess my device really did work after all. I told you that it would!” Craniac said, making the closest thing to a smile that he could, given that he was a robot. “So she basically thinks that your mind has been wiped. Good, then that means that we are more free to proceed with the next phase of the plan.”

“Oh yes, that’s right.” Skrawl brought his hands together, tapping his claws against one another as a smile spread along his face. “How is that coming along?”

“Really good, I must say!” The robot zoner went up towards one of his large machines. His hands immediately went to work with pushing a few buttons. Skrawl moved in behind him, staring intently at the screen as the monitor flickered. “You did an excellent job with keeping up the performance. This all looks very convincing.”

Skrawl stood behind Craniac and he watched the screen glowing before him. He folded his arms behind his back and he smirked with pride at how well he had done. He not only managed to get the Chalk Queen to attack him but also make her think that she had successfully manipulated his mind. This would give the zoners even more of a reason to distrust her. They would see her as a manipulative bastard who was trying to control everyone around her.

But there was something else that would really help this out. He had no idea what the progress was. He hadn’t actually asked Craniac about it yet. But now did seem to be a good time for that. He slowly turned his head to Craniac and placed his hand against him, giving him a nudge so that he knew to turn around.

“And what about the...extra footage?” Skrawl raised an eyebrow, his mouth corner tugging a little. “Did you manage to get any of that?”

Craniac blinked his LED eyes a few times before he seemed to finally realize what the jellybean zoner was talking about. “Oh you mean the footage of her…” He paused as he saw Skrawl nodding his head. Craniac soon said, “Oh but of course! Very recently in fact! You should have seen the way she reacted to Master Tabootie. Oh the zoners are going to ‘love’ this!”

Skrawl moved in a little closer. He could feel himself pushing up against Craniac as he stared intently at the screen. “What are you waiting for?” He hissed. “Show me!”

Craniac pushed him back. “Give me some room!” Skrawl moved back, glaring softly at the zoner before him. Craniac just huffed at him, adjusting his metal body like it were a set of pants, and then looked back at the screen. “Let me find the right file… Ah, there we go!” He pressed the button. “Watch and be amazed.”

Skrawl saw how the screen filled up with images, replacing the previous blackness that it had. He could see how everything seemed to move around at first as Penny was charging at Rudy. Then after the impact, he could see Rudy’s terrified fast as Penny started to attack him. It didn’t take long before the images before him started to look outright horrifying, far exceeding the ‘fun’ level that it was initially at. Skrawl couldn’t help but bring his hand to his mouth as he watched this. He didn’t think it would be this bad.

He could hear the sounds of Rudy screaming in agony. He could hear each blow. He could hear Penny’s angry shouts. He could see the blood and bruises forming. It wasn’t letting up. It almost looked like Penny was going to go on forever with this. The sight of her acting this way was horrendous and shook him to his core. He hadn’t seen her be this cruel to anyone before. At least not to this degree. The fact that she was going as far as make Rudy vomit up blood despite his pleas… Geeze, what had caused her to snap?

But despite how gruesome this was, it would still serve a good purpose. It would help him reclaim ChalkZone for himself. Now that he and Craniac had this footage, including Penny hurting Rudy, this would be the kind of motivator that would rally the zoners together. They would not let the Chalk Queen get away with what she was doing here.

But then he saw that things started to settle down a little. Penny seemed to be talking to someone who wasn’t there, but Skrawl dismissed that as his focus was more on how Penny was starting to treat Rudy. He scratched his chin thoughtfully and released a low growl. Was this going to be a problem for him and Craniac? He turned his head to stare at the robot zoner. But there was no need to say anything. It would seem that Craniac already knew what he wanted to know.

“I can edit that out before I broadcast this.” Craniac stated. “The zoners will just think that she left him there to die or something.”

“Good. That will make the zoners storm around her and force her to rely on me for help.” Skrawl said with a smile.

“But remember, we still need to be careful about this. You know how the zoners will react if they find out…” Craniac started to say.

“Oh don’t worry, they won’t learn about our involvement in this.” Skrawl said with a smile. “As far as they know, their ‘dear queen’ had just finally lost it.”

But despite how confident he looked, despite whether or not Craniac really believed that he was relaxed, Skrawl was still very worried on the inside. He knew how very wrong this could all go if everything wasn’t perfect. He could accidentally reveal himself to the Chalk Queen as being not so affected, and in turn, could cause his beautiful plan to fall apart. Likewise, he could make it look like to the zoners that he was the one who hurt Rudy or was part of the whole thing. That would get the zoners to come after him as well.

He was still hopeful that this could still work out if he just remained as careful as possible. He just needed to act as though he knew nothing, act like how the Chalk Queen would think that he would act, and he should be able to throw off enough suspicion. He just needed to keep this up until he knew when the right moment to strike was.

Craniac had warned him that acting too soon would make the Chalk Queen suspicious and she might take quicker action. Instead, it would be better to wait a while. Craniac recommended about two weeks or even three weeks just to be safe. The goal was to have this all triggered during a time when that vile woman would not have a recent enough memory to connect this to when she ‘wiped’ Skrawl’s memory.

It was going to be a grueling wait. Nearly a month was quite a while to sit around and do nothing. That was a long time that he had to make sure that he didn’t do anything to make Penny suspicious.

But knowing what kind of reward waiting for him was enough to keep him interested in the plan. It would make it all the more worthwhile in the end when everything was set up. The thought made him smile more broadly. He couldn’t wait to see the look on Penny’s face when her little world started to come crashing all around her.


	16. Treating

Rudy was surrounded in darkness. Everywhere he turned, that’s all he could see. Nothing but an endless blackness that seemed to want to swallow him whole. He could feel his body shaking as he tried to move back, only to realize that he wasn’t standing up. Then he realized that his eyes were closed, feeling heavy and, to some degree, swollen. This fact somehow made him feel even more scared and he tried to move.

Why did he feel so stiff and sore? Why did his throat hurt him? Why did moving his eyes feel so uncomfortable? Why was his breathing so ragged? So many questions entered his mind, and he felt too weak to do anything about it.

Then he became aware of the low, buzzing pain that seemed to spread throughout his body. It hovered over him almost like a blanket of some kind, a notion that seemed so confusing for him. He was easily distracted by this confusion with the sheer agony that shot through him. His stomach felt like it had been broken and ripped apart and when he tried to move, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He tried to clutch it with his hand, but the arm that he moved had jolts of sharpness in it as well, concentrated on the joint. He was unable to hold back his scream of pain as he just collapsed.

What was going on here? Why was he like this? Why did everything feel so stiff and so painful? Why did he feel like he needed to empty his stomach? Why did the world around him feel so dizzy? Why couldn’t he…

Rudy let out a small groan as he managed to lift his head up. He could feel how sore his neck was and how each vertebrate felt like it was stretching beyond its limitations. He then managed to open up his eyes, though not too far. He could only manage a small sliver of a field of vision. But it was still better than nothing. He turned his head from side to side, getting a feel of where he was. But his vision was too darkness and too blurry to be of much use. It didn’t help that there seemed to be a ring of darkness around his vision. He hoped that this was just temporary, but something told him that it wouldn’t be that easy.

Then he could hear the sound of footsteps approaching him. He flinched and gritted his teeth as he listened to this going on. He turned his head to see something approaching him. A blur of colors, tall, moving at a steady gait. He shook his head and struggled to open his eyes wider. It was so difficult to see what was going on.

Then he could hear a voice calling out to him. It was heavily distorted and had a slightly feminine tone to it. He still couldn’t recognize who it was and most of the words were nonsense. He was only able to pick up on one thing.

“....so you’re….awake….good… asleep...days…”

Rudy blinked a few times, trying to process what was said to him. Did this being tell him that he was knocked out for days? But how? He wasn’t… He then stopped himself as his eyes widened up slowly. Could this be the reason why he was in so much pain? Had he been….attacked…?

Suddenly a whole avalanche of memories struck him, making him jerk weakly once. He thought he could feel himself falling into the ground despite him already being there. It felt like an anvil was dropped on him and forcing him to stay there. His vision grew a little sharper and he could feel his breathing grow even more. He could feel sweat moving down his face and he shook and trembled as he tried to get back some more.

It was Penny… She was here… She had hurt him… He could still feel her blows.. What did she want now..? Oh gawd no.. Please… He didn’t want hat to happen again…

His efforts to get away were pitiful and he only ended up slipping back into the ground. He laid there, whimpering in pain. He turned his head up as he could see the blurry figure, whom he knew was Penny, and he shut his eyes, cringing and shivering in fright.

Then he could feel the hand against him. He let out a whimper and stiffened up, waiting to get hurt. And then…

Rudy felt his eyes open up in confusion when he could feel Penny gently caressing him. It wasn’t like how she would before, where it would be more mockery and clearly just a way to toy with him. Nor was it anything like what she’d do during her ‘special time’ with him, either. This seemed, it felt….more genuine. His body still shook from the sensation, but he felt a strange sense of...warmth in the touch.

Slowly, he looked up at where Penny was. His vision was still too blurry and he could not make out her face. But he was able to see enough that she seemed seem to look hostile towards him. Rudy kept his eyes on her for a few long moments, watching her carefully. He wasn’t able to keep this up forever, though, and he could feel his eyes growing a little heavy. He managed to keep them open, but his head just couldn’t remain elevated. He rested his head to the ground and stayed there, drawing in a few slow breaths.

Penny gently patted him a little before she spoke again. This time, it was easier for him to understand what she was saying. “Take it easy. You’re in no condition to move around like that. Stay here. I’ll get you some more painkillers. I think the ones I gave you are already wearing off.”

Rudy looked on as Penny moved away from him and towards what he assumed was the closet where she kept some supplies. He wanted to see what she was going to do next. He could not fully shake off his uncomfortable feeling that she still might try something. But he wasn’t able to stop his eyes from closing, a slight burning sensation spreading out as though they were tired. Rudy could already feel the darkness starting to spread through his mind.

And yet somehow, he managed to stay awake enough to feel what Penny was doing next. And he had never been so confused in his life.

sss

Giving Rudy the medication was difficult. She should have probably opted for something more like syringes. Just stick it in the skin and be done with it. Trying to get him to swallow anything, especially with a badly bruised stomach like that, was going to be a challenge. If she picked something that irritated his stomach too much, she might end up causing him to throw up and that wouldn’t be good for getting the medication to take effect.

This forced her to delay giving him the medicine so that she could whip up something for him to eat. Something easily digestible and gentle on the stomach might help soothe it a little, and she couldn’t imagine it aggravating his internal wounds. The oatmeal didn’t take too long to make, though it was ice cold. It was going to have to do. At least it should still be edible and besides, heat might have hurt him more.

She carried the bowl of oatmeal towards Rudy. She tried to be careful as she want. She had seen the way that he reacted to her approaching and she didn’t want him to be hurting himself like that again. She was happy to see that he was at least trying to hold still this time.

But the way that he was looking at her…

She shook the thought out of her head as she knelt down beside the young man. She scooped up a bit of oatmeal and held it out to him. At first, Rudy seemed to be a little hesitate. He turned his head to the side as if to avoid it. Penny narrowed her eyes and she was tempted to grab him and hold him still. She stopped herself before she got that far and she just tried again.

After a few tries, Rudy seemed to be too tired to keep resisting. He relented to her gesture and he reluctantly opened up his mouth. In went the spoon, and he soon swallowed slowly. He shuddered and yelped, making Penny flinch. But despite that, she still continued to feed him. She could not give him the pills until he had something in his stomach. They were a bit strong. And she wanted him to have at least some energy back. It would help him heal a little faster.

On one of the final scoops, that’s when she slipped in the elongated pills, both of them a decent sized dosage that should help with the pain. They were stronger than the last medication she had given him. Fitting, given how much she had hurt him this time around. And just like before, Rudy managed to swallow the pills in one go, the medication moving down his throat and into his stomach. Penny then had him finish up the oatmeal and she leaned back away from him.

Rudy was not going to recover quickly, that much she could be sure of. She had done extensive damage to him. Even though it was about three days since the incident, she could still see the actions in her mind, replaying over and over again. She gritted her teeth and tried so hard not to think about it.

Besides, Rudy had provoked her into doing that, didn’t he?

Penny didn’t dwell on that thought too much. Not like it was going to help any. Instead, she watched Rudy curling up on the ground, watching her fearfully, before she got up from the ground and started to back away from him. Perhaps now was a good time to leave him alone. He couldn’t very well recover if he was constantly reminded of his fears, now could he?

Yeah, that’s what she’ll do. She would leave him alone for another day and see how he was doing later. He needed some alone time to help some of his recovery, where he could be more relaxed and stress was not slowing things down.

But if he didn’t show significant progress after some more days, what was she going to do? Would she need to…

..take him back to the Real World..?

The thought filled her up with hesitation.

sss

He gritted his teeth sharply as he could feel the cloth being pushed against his stomach. The shirt had been pulled up to reveal the black and blue skin that was part of his damaged stomach, the cloth pressed fully against it. The cloth itself was ice cold, both soaked in cold water and wrapped up with large ice cubes. He could feel his body wriggling as he instinctively tried to get away.

“Stop it, Rudy.”

The young man felt himself stopping almost immediately at that voice. The tone triggered something inside of his head and he felt compelled to listen. He felt his eyes growing larger and fear swept through his body. The threat of more pain held him in place.

“You’ll only hurt yourself more if you keep struggling like that. I know that this is cold, but it’ll help bring down the swelling.”

This didn’t do much to help Rudy settle down. He looked over at who was speaking. He could see Penny bending down next to him, her knees pressing against the ground. She was leaning over him, putting the cloth against his stomach and holding it there firmly. She would occasionally move the cloth around, moving it all along his stomach. Each time that she did this, Rudy flinched and shuddered, the ice coldness making him want to seek warmth.

His struggles did not deter Penny, however. She held him down with a hand on his shoulder while her other hand worked the cloth along his belly. The resulting action caused a mixture of cold and some stinging pain, even if it was a little numbed by the cold. Rudy lifted his head up a little to watch the cloth being moved. Despite his fear and despite the pain that he could feel, Penny was not doing anything to deliberately cause more discomfort.

And then slowly, he did start to notice a difference. The pain in his stomach did start to lessen a little, as if the coldness was helping speed up the healing process. And in all the discomfort and cold that he felt, this was also starting to feel...good. He could not deny that this action was starting to become enjoyable, zapping away the pain and bringing some measure of comfort to him.

Yet it still wasn’t enough to push away his fears. He continuously looked up at Penny as though she was going to attack him at any time. His mind was filled with memories and images of when she had assaulted him. Not just recently, but years ago, the initial attack and when she was trying to dominate over him. Those memories were enough to make his skin crawl, goosebumps starting to form as his hairs raised up on end. He could struggle all that he wanted to to push back these feelings, but they only seemed to get worse.

After a few more gentle motions and presses in a few spots, Penny said, “It’ll just be a little longer. If you can hold still for me until then, I’d greatly appreciate it.”

Rudy could hear himself grumble under his breath. “Whatever you say…”

“Hey.” Penny’s voice was firm, a little louder than before. “This is for your benefit as well. Count yourself lucky that you’re getting any help at all. I could easily just let you try to heal on your own. And with those injuries….”

“Whatever! It’s not like it matters to you!” Rudy twisted his head, feeling enough anger to power his motions in this moment. He was able to power through his previous fear as he snarled to Penny, “You just do whatever you want if it empowers you! You aren’t concerned about me! You just want me to have some reason to remain hooked to you!”

Penny stammered at this. It almost sounded like she was going to deny it, but she must have realized how little that was going to fly with him. So instead, she opted to just saying something else entirely. “I am only doing this to keep you safe…”

“Feh, you have a funny way of showing it. You didn’t even think to tell me about my parents’ death.” Rudy noticed how Penny’s eyes flickered at that. He just gave a small, bitter smile before snorting softly. “Don’t even act like you care…”

Rudy’s eyes widened and he gave a small gasp of fright when he felt Penny suddenly seizing him by the throat. He was pushed more firmly against the ground, any ‘gentleness’ from Penny now gone. He grabbed onto her wrist and held on tightly as he turned his head to look up at her, gritting his teeth.

Penny was glaring down at him with narrowed eyes that were practically glowing, slightly wide. She released a few low growls through her clenched teeth and she drew in a few deep breaths, as though struggling to control herself. She stared right into his eyes as her body quaked, her muscles tightening up underneath, going rigid. She looked like she was trying to talk, but something held her back. She raised her fist up and was prepared to strike down at him.

With nowhere to go, all Rudy could do was struggle to try to avoid the attack. He kicked his legs out wildly, flailing his arm, only to stop shortly as the pain still swelling up inside stopped him. Soon all he could do was just look up at the woman fearfully before turning his head away to wait for the blow. He was not able to stop looking up at her with one terror-filled eye.

Penny remained in this posture for several long moments before he could see how Rudy was looking at her and she suddenly froze. She stopped her attack midway, locking it in the air as though she had turned off an invisible lever. Her expression shifted just enough to show more shock than anger. This was soon followed by her expression becoming more loose and her arm was lowered to the side.

Penny shook her head rapidly and hissed, “...it’s just not worth it….”

Rudy had no idea what she meant by that. He was just relieved as he felt Penny’s hand releasing his throat, letting him breathe more deeply. Penny appeared to shrug off what had just happened and she resumed with putting the cold cloth against his stomach. After what happened, Rudy didn’t dare try to do or say anything that would anger Penny once again.

sss

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it, Penita….? You’ve been acting strange lately. Well I mean, stranger than usual. I-I’m worried about you…”

Penny let out a small sigh as she heard her mother’s voice talking with her. She wanted to say something to try to comfort her, but at the moment, nothing would come to her mind. Just what could say say to her about the situation? Could she even bother telling her mother anything that wouldn’t result in something unfortunate being revealed?

Penny was well aware enough of what her mother would do if she found out that she kept Rudy prisoner for all this time. She couldn’t even trust her own mother when it came to figuring out how to help him recover. Her mother would surely want to this ‘mysterious patient’ that she brought up. Penny couldn’t forge this and she might recognize Rudy, or something could happen that would reveal his true identity.

And yet she was also aware that she might not be able to treat Rudy’s more serious injuries. Despite her mixed feelings regarding him, despite how her mind was split on the issue that took place, one thing that she could not deny is that she did not want him to die. She would prefer that he stayed alive, even if there was no benefit in actually keeping him around.

Realizing that she had been silent for too long, seeing how her worried mother was looking at her, Penny let out a small sigh. “I guess I just….have a lot to think about.” That was the only thing that she could think of to say in that moment. “I do apologize that I’m scaring you so much. That’s not my intention.”

Her mother nodded her head slowly. “I’m sure it’s not, but..” She reached out and touched Penny on her shoulder. “Y-You know you can talk to me, right?”

Penny gave a slight sideways glance to the woman. She smiled the best that she could, though it was filled with hesitation and uncertainty. “Sure, I know.”

Penny wasn’t really sure why she agreed to visit her mother back in the old house. Being here brought up some unwelcome memories. She couldn’t even try to head into her old bedroom. She had no idea if that chalkboard of hers that she used to use was still there. She didn’t want to take the risk; she would just see it as a cruel reminder of how things used to be, and how it all fell apart things to a few stupid mistakes.

Even being outside of that room didn’t help much. Being just anywhere near or on this property brought back memories of Rudy coming to visit her or hearing Snap calling for her from upstairs. It brought about feelings of bitterness and sickness that she tried to cover up.

But she couldn’t bring herself to ignore her mother’s call, to deny coming over. She had pushed her away long enough and she just...could not bring herself to do it again. After what happened, she was starting to realize that she...maybe...possibly...needed some help. Not an easy thing for her to admit. A part of her still screamed at her that nothing was wrong. But could she deny that any longer? Could she keep pretending not to see how insane she had become?

Penny realized what the answer was. She was hoping, almost praying, that a visit to her mother might help her figure out where to go from here. Because after she treated Rudy, what else was she going to do? How would she proceed from there? Could she return to how things used to be? Or was she going to have to forge another path?

The only thing that she knew was that it was not going to be easy.

“Did you want anything to drink?” Her mother asked after a long, awkward silence. “Are you a little parched? I wouldn’t mind…”

Penny raised her hand up and was about to dismiss the gesture. But she stopped herself before she got that far and she slowly started to smile. “Thanks… I appreciate it.”

Her mother gave her a smile that indicated relief and a little bit of surprise. It made Penny wonder just how long it had been since she last interacted with her mother in a more positive manner like this. She couldn’t remember the last time they hung out or even spoke face to face. She mostly just recalled phone calls and rejecting going to places with her. With that in mind, it was no wonder that her mother looked happy to finally get something out of her that wasn’t just pushing her away.

Penny watched as her mother headed into the kitchen. She could hear the sound of running water and she could hear footsteps intermixing with that. She was startled to see just how fast the woman had moved, as though she had been waiting for this moment for a long time. It just… Penny flinched a little, pushing aside the thought as the woman had already come back.

The cool water that moved down her throat was soothing. It helped to heal her aching neck from when she had been crying earlier, a memory that she would rather not bring up. But it didn’t matter how good this water felt, it still did not fully push away why she had come here or make her forget what was going on. She stared at her reflection and she shuddered when she saw a brief flash of ‘Snap’’s face. She moved the cup away quickly, freezing herself before she accidentally spilled it.

“Is anything wrong?” Her mother asked in a quiet, worried voice. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost…”

“I’m fine, mother.” Penny insisted. But her mind was alive with thoughts. She couldn’t help but think about how correct her mother actually was.

Her mother leaned in a little towards her, looking at her with great sympathy. Something about this made Penny feel a little uncomfortable. She wasn’t sure entirely what it was. Could it be possible that part of her mind was scolding her, telling her that she wasn’t ‘worthy’ of being given this kind of treatment. She tried her best to push back these thoughts so that she didn’t look too worried in front of her mother.

The woman before her opened her mouth and it almost looked as if she was going to try to press the issue further. But she shut her mouth firmly and pulled back. Then she said, “Okay, if you are really sure about that…” She gave Penny another gentle squeeze with her hand before moving back away from her. “...I am still happy to see that you are starting to do a little better. Especially after….” Her voice trailed off, her teeth pressing against her lip.

Penny nodded her head rigidly. “It’s still...quite a shock. Who knew that something like that would happen to them…?” Penny straightened herself up as she looked down at her hands. She curled her fingers inward slightly, her eyes making a tiny increment of a furrow. “Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie had lost their son years ago…” She could taste venom in her saliva when she forced herself to say that. “And now they ended up….dying in the same place they had tried to raise him. That’s just...cruel irony.”

Her mother nodded her head. “Yes, I know. I was horrified myself when I first heard about it.” She paused for a moment to suck on her lip. “It’s such a shame of how it all happened. It’s not easy to realize that there’s a carbon monoxide leak until it’s too late.”

Penny turned her head to her mother, her eyes immediately widening up a little. Her mouth hung open a little as she frowned, confusion spreading throughout her head. “....mom, none of the reports I heard even mention that. I don’t think they even figured out the cause of…” She stopped for a moment, swallowing hard. “How did you know about the leak?”

The vet stared at her daughter for several long seconds. The area in the room started to feel tense and uncomfortable. Her mother’s eyes were flashing some emotions that were hard to decipher. Overall, she looked just as confused as she did, but she had spoken those words earlier with an air of confidence as if she knew for certain herself. Penny had no idea what to think about that.

Eventually her mother quickly stated, “I-I just heard about it s-somewhere.” Her voice was a tad shaky. “People like to talk, you know.”

“I see…” Penny said as she continued to frown at the woman.

Her mother bit her lip for a moment before she quickly turned around. “I just remembered something. I-I’ll be right back.”

Penny felt her eyes narrowing as she watched her mother moving quickly out of the room. Well she was in such a hurry, wasn’t she? Penny could feel her mind sorting through her thoughts as she tried to work out just what this meant. She initially chalked it up to her mother just being nervous and still recovering from the shock of losing her friends. She could have easily gotten the details mixed up.

That seemed the most likely and it was one that she was betting on. But she still could not fully shake off what had happened. This was going to linger in the back of her head for a while, wasn’t it?

Penny looked down at her drink. She gave a small growl as she stared at the rippling water, no longer showing her the face of ‘Snap’. She let out a small sigh and she started to drink the water. She finished it up with a few gulps and she placed it back down firmly. She turned her head and waited for her mother to return.


	17. Plotting Behind The Scenes

It was difficult for him to admit that he was feeling a little better now. No, that wouldn’t be an accurate terminology to use here. He was feeling a lot better. Whatever had been done to him, it appeared to be working. Granted, he was still in a lot of pain and he still couldn’t move around too much. But at least he wasn’t locked in as much excruciating pain any longer.

Rudy laid there on the ground, curling up and trying to get comfortable. It might have been more bearable now, but that did not make it any easier to rest. Not unless Penny gave him sleeping pills, which he was trying to avoid.

Speaking of Penny, he wondered just how long she was going to be until she got back. He recalled her saying that she would be gone for a little while. Without any form of clock or telling time, Rudy himself didn’t really know what this entailed. It could easily be just a few hours or even several days. Okay that last part was a bit exaggerated perhaps, given that she had never done something that extreme before. It didn’t stop him from worrying about it, though.

Rudy clenched his teeth tightly as he struggled to fight against another bout of shooting through his body. His stomach and chest were just killing him. He tried hard not to grab onto them, knowing full well what might happen. He knew that Penny had warned him against doing such a thing. But how could he resist for too long? The pain, it just hurt too bad…

That’s when he realized just how little he had actually recovered. The pain might have gone down, but it was still nothing to sneeze at. He was still trapped in a situation where he could feel pain all around him and there was nothing that he could do to make it go away. He was not going to be able to fully escape the horrific pain that ate away at his soul until he healed more. Who knows how long that would take?

At least he was able to distract his mind a little at the moment. He could already hear Penny returning. Well she certainly hadn’t been lying, had she? Rudy furrowed his eyes slightly as he watched Penny starting to walk back in, her face that usual frown like it had been before. Rudy tried not to look at her for too long. The sight of her still triggered uncomfortable memories.

How did he know that she was not going to hurt him again? How did he know that she wasn’t going to try attacking him another time soon? She might just be holding off for now to lower his guard. She might be waiting for the right moment to strike. He had to remain vigilant. No matter what, he had to make sure that she did not get the upper hand over him. That’s exactly what she wanted him to do; to lower his guard so she could sneak right in there and tear him down again. She might have succeed once, but she will not do so again.

Due to this, Rudy kept himself on his guard as he watched Penny moving throughout the room. She hadn’t looked at him too much yet. Her focus appeared to be elsewhere. It looked like she was she was distracted by something, perhaps thinking about an important situation.

Whatever it was, Rudy doubt it was anything good. Probably just another way to oppress the zoners she was controlling, or to find another way to tear him apart. In that moment, he didn’t care how distressed Penny might have looked. Knowing her and what she had done, it was likely not anything that she deserved sympathy over.

Penny was soon over by one of the drawers. The same one that she had used to store food, he recognized. Despite his fear, he felt his lip curling up into a small snarl of disgust. She was going to force that on him again, wasn’t she? Another humiliating moment of being fed like he was a fucking little child or something. It was tempting to show her exactly how he really felt, but he did recall what would actually happen and he held himself back.

When Penny started to get closer to him, Rudy felt his body starting to cringe a little, his teeth becoming bared. Penny didn’t seem to care and just kept on coming. Rudy flattened himself against the ground and kept snarling softly. This lessened the closer that the woman came. Slowly, he started to shift gears, his body shaking harder and his expression softening up. Now he just laid there, whimpering softly as Penny now stood over him. Rudy’s eyes widened as he tried to keep his eyes locked onto her and he turned his head to one side slowly. He let out a few small whines as he tried to curl himself up into a tighter all. Pain kept him from going that far.

Penny stared at him for several moments and she let out a small sigh, shaking her head slowly. “You’re not going to make this easy for me, are you?” She asked in a soft voice. She watched Rudy for a few more seconds, raising her eyebrow slowly as Rudy tried to cringe away from her. Penny just rolled her eyes at this and took another step forward. “It’s not like I am going to hurt you.”

Rudy thought he saw Penny hesitating a little at that statement, but he brushed it aside as he kept his teeth bared, as though that was going to help his situation. He wasn’t going to let Penny get the better of him. He was not going to let her get a chance to hurt him again. Her hand lowered closer to him and then….

Alarm bells rang loudly throughout Rudy’s head. Instinct kicked in and he launched his head forward. He slammed his jaws shut towards Penny’s hand. He narrowly missed her fingers as she yanked her hand back. She glared at him intently, causing Rudy to let out a small cry and start to scramble away. He put his arms over himself and he quivered harder.

“P-P-Please Chalk Queen, don’t h-h-hurt me again!” Rudy pleaded with her. “I-I don’t want…. I-I am s-s-sorry for what I did! Please, I’m begging you!”

Rudy just laid there in a tight ball, his eyes shut tightly as he waited for what was to come. He knew that Penny was not going to just let him get away with that. She wasn’t going to be deterred just because he apologized. He knew how she was and, as raw terror filled up his stomach, he realized that he might have just delayed his healing for longer. All he could do was just accept this next beating.

Penny was getting closer now. He could hear her above him. He could hear her grumbling softly and he could feel the tension filling up the air all around him. He let himself start to whimper softly as he struggled to control himself. Tears formed in his eyes and streamed down his face. He dared not to look at Penny. He just hoped that, if he kept his head away long enough, he could almost pretend that he wasn’t here and just distance himself from this situation.

Penny now made her move. Rudy could hear her bending down onto her knees. He could feel her shadow moving along his body as she leaned in towards him. He could almost sense the hand that was going to grab him. This caused him to close his eyes tighter as he waited for the blow.

But...that’s not what happened. Confusion settled in Rudy’s mind when he did not sense the pain that he thought was about to come. He looked up at Penny, staring at her cautiously and with confusion.

Rather than hurting him, Penny was just stroking him. Not in the same manner as she normally would have. This did not feel mocking. It was like what she had done with him before, shortly after the attack. This felt more like a genuine attempt to calm him down. Rudy could feel her hand moving along the top of his head, staying there as her fingers went through the brown strands. This gesture was confusing and he didn’t know how he should feel. But his body appeared to like it as he felt his limbs going softer and less rigid.

Slowly, Penny’s hand moved down to his cheek. She gently caressed it for a few seconds, keeping her gaze steady with his. Rudy felt some kind of strange sensation moving all around him and he started to become so mixed up with emotion that his head was starting to hurt.

Penny soon seemed to realize what she was doing and she pulled her hand away quickly. She darted her eyes back and forth and cleared her throat. She then brought the stuff she grabbed forward and set them down. Rudy looked to see some cookies and milk. He blinked at this before lifting his head to stare back at Penny. He silently wondered just what this was all about.

She merely shrugged, “If you don’t want it, I can take it back.”

“N-No… I do want it. But…” Rudy paused for a moment as he looked down at the sweets presented before him. He then looked back at Penny and said, “Aren’t you...going to…. You know…?”

“Help you eat them?” Penny inquired. When Rudy nodded his head, she quickly replied. “No, not this time.” Rudy’s eyes widened in surprise at this. “I’ll be remaining in this room. I don’t think you need me to hover over you just to eat this stuff. Just be careful with your mouth. You lost two teeth and that area is still sore, isn’t it?”

“Yeah it is. But if that’s a worry, why give me cookies? They’re not exactly soft.” Said Rudy.

Penny gave something of a half smile. “And that’s why I gave you milk, too.”

Rudy stared down at the cup of milk that Penny handled to him. He blinked a few times before a blush started to form on his face. “Oh…” He said softly in realization.

Penny got up from the ground. “I’ll give you ten minutes to finish that. Then it’s time for some medicine.” Penny gave him a long, hard look as though to make sure that he fully understood what she was saying. Rudy stared back at her, biting his lips before nodding his head slowly. “Good. I will be right here in case you need anything.”

Rudy wasn’t sure why he said this, but the words still flowed out of his mouth, anyway. “Thanks…”

“....no problem.”

Rudy watched as Penny headed out of the cage. True to her word, she situated herself on the bed nearby. She watched him carefully. But the hard glare she’d normally give him, that contempt that she would often show to him, it didn’t seem to be as strong as it had been in the past. He didn’t know what to think about this, how he should feel. Fear still lingered in his mind, but there was a part of him that was wondering what this could lead to in the future. Had something finally gotten through to Penny’s mind?

Or it could just be too good to be true. He knew what the dangers were in keeping his hopes up. He would still have to remain on his toes regardless of what was going on. After all, Penny could still get him at a moment’s notice. This could be a way to win back his trust, only to stomp it into the ground later on.

She still kept the truth about his parents from him… Who knows what else she might be hiding..?

But still, he was getting a little hungry and she had never given him something like this before, and she had especially not given him permission to eat on his own before, either. Well she was still there, yes. But he was the one doing the eating on his own. He didn’t know what got into her mind, but he was not about to question it. The chance to eat something, anything, using his own hands was a privilege he had lost long ago. He wasn’t going to let this chance slip by him.

Grabbing the cookies and dunking the first one into the cup, Rudy began consuming the sweets. He paid little attention to Penny staring at him.

sss

“Raaahhr... This is getting so boring! Can’t we take action now?!” Skrawl leaned back, pressing himself against the wall behind him. His body was a little loose from the sheer boredom and he struggled to keep standing. “We’ve been waiting for freaking days for something to happen, but we...”

Craniac interrupted him. “We still need to be patient. Yes it’s unfortunate that the queen is not acting as we thought she would. But remember, I.... er, I mean, we don’t need to air any of the positive stuff. We can also mix this tape up to our advantage. Show things in a different light, so to speak.”

Skrawl nodded his head a few times. “Yes, perhaps we could do that.” He paused to scratch his chin a little. “But how much longer should we wait? The longer we delay this, the easier it’ll be for our ‘dear queen’ to find out about what’s going on.” He furrowed his eyes a little as he stared intently at Craniac. “Do you honestly think that I can keep up this charade with Penny? Making her believe that she has more control than she actually does? I say we act soon before...”

“Yes, yes, in due time.” Craniac raised his hand up. “You must have patience, though, Skrawl. We can’t take action too soon. Not while we aren’t fully prepared.”

“Well I am prepared!” Skrawl stated affirmatively. He puffed himself up to try to look as tough as possible. He noticed that Craniac did not really look all that intimidated by him. That didn’t stop Skrawl from snarling at him viciously, a part of him hoping that he could convince the robotic zoner to try to take action quicker. This was not something that they should or could fool around with. “Do you have any idea what would happen if we fail to get this video out to spur the zoners and the Chalk Queen stops us?” He narrowed his eyes further. “Do you know what she’d do?”

Craniac didn’t skip a beat when he answered, “Yes, I’m quite aware. I’ve dealt with her before. Even asking something as simple as fixing my city’s pipes sounded as though it was like ripping out some circuitry.”

Skrawl pretended to understand what Craniac was saying with that.

The robot continued, “No doubt she would be even worse if she discovered this. But we’re in luck. She seems to be too preoccupied with Rudy Tabootie here than paying attention to you. I think you’re safe to keep pretending for a while.”

Skrawl hissed at this. “But I think we should....”

“What? Are you afraid of losing your touch?” Craniac taunted. “Do you think that you are becoming...weak?”

Skrawl widened his eyes in shock at this, moving himself back. He curled his hands up into small fists as he took a step closer to Craniac. With his teeth grinding against one another, he growled intently at the zoner, “Just what the hell did you fucking say...?”

Craniac did quickly move away to avoid getting hit. But he didn’t seem to fully back down. This was apparent with how he responded. “You heard me, big boy.” He moved his hand towards Skrawl, motioning back and forth quickly. “You sound like you’re compensating for something.” Skrawl let out another growl at this, which Craniac seemed to take as further proof. “See? You’re getting unhinged. I can see why you’re afraid of slipping up.” He turned his body away from Skrawl. “Did you ever think of taking a break or something?”

“A break?” Skrawl mouthed, unable to believe that’s what came out of Craniac’s mouth. “You honestly think that something like that would be a good idea? The Chalk Queen might...”

“True, she might.” Craniac spoke, despite the fact that he didn’t know how Skrawl was going to finish his sentence. “Or she might not really notice. She’s too focused on Rudy right now, which I mentioned earlier. She seems intent on healing him. She isn’t spending as much time with ruling ChalkZone.” Craniac gave Skrawl a robotic smile. “..which we can use to our advantage. Twist the footage and make it look like she’s spending all this time hurting Rudy. Imagine how the zoners would react...”

Skrawl gave a darkened smile at this. “Yeah, that would be...” He stopped himself when he realized what was going on. He immediately shook his head and he pointed his claw at Craniac. “Th-There, see?! That’s exactly what we’d be missing out on if we don’t take action now!” He raised his hand up, flexing his claws and curling them inward almost threateningly. “We’re missing out on the perfect opportunity to deal some damage here!”

“....Well I do understand why you’re so worried. There always had been difficulty in figuring out timing with things like this.” Craniac moved away from Skrawl, his shadow casting over the monitor that they had been watching in this room. His wheel squeaked a little as he moved, sounding as though it needed an oil change. “But we don’t want to repeat the mistakes of last time. Remember the robot?”

Skrawl slapped himself in the face when he thought of that robot. “Ugh... Don’t remind me...” He then pointed a claw at Craniac in an accusing manner. “It was your fault we screwed up! If you hadn’t attacked Snap....”

“Precisely.”

Skrawl froze at this. He stared at Craniac for a few long seconds, wondering if he heard right. Did the robot zoner just...admit that he was correct? Did he just say that he was the one who was wrong? That wasn’t something that he thought would have happened. It seriously caused Skrawl to pause and wonder if he had the right zoner or not.

Craniac sensed his confusion and he said, “I did come to realize, after analyzing the situation after we escaped that robot, that I did indeed make an error in attacking Snap like that. It alerted him and....Penny...to the situation and allowed them to stop us.” He motioned his hand upwards. “But that’s precisely why we can’t act too soon here! I acted too soon back then and it cost us our plan! I won’t let that happen again! This time, we wait!”

Skrawl snarled softly at this. Although he was glad to hear that Craniac wasn’t going to keep trying to put the blame on him, though he was happy that Craniac was acknowledging his fault, he didn’t think that he was making the best of choices right now. True, back then, acting too soon and trying to get rid of Penny and Snap early instead of focusing on destroying the Chalk Mine did result in the plan falling apart. He would give Craniac’s realization that much credit.

But this was a different situation than that. The dangers were a little different here, and it was unlikely that things would play out differently than in the past if they waited. Skrawl was accutely aware that they could screw up just as bad by waiting. Penny was distracted now, so why don’t they just take this moment to get the footage out now?

A part of him had a feeling that Craniac might not listen to him. That seemed to be a thing with him, wasn’t it? Once Craniac had an idea about something, it was hard to change his mind. It was like, he felt he was always right if he’s the one who thought of it. He had an ego about himself just because he was a robot. It made Skrawl remember why he did not like working with Craniac. For all the good ideas that he could come up with, there were times when he would just go off onto his own thing and then...

Bah, what was he getting carried away for in his thoughts, anyway? He just needed to be firm. He wasn’t going to let Penny control him and he certainly wasn’t going to let Craniac do the same thing. He was, after all, the real leader of ChalkZone. It was time that he started to act like it.

“Now you see here...” Skrawl started to say as he moved in closer towards the robot zoner. He could see Craniac’s expression starting to change when he towered over him, staring intently into his LED eyes as his teeth gritted tightly. “I am the one in charge here.” He pointed a claw to himself. “I’m the one who calls all the shots. You’re the one who is supposed to listen to me.” He pointed a finger at Craniac, pressing the tip against his metal body. “We lost our chance with the robot because you didn’t listen to me! I guarantee you that if you don’t listen to me now, we are going to miss our chance!”

Craniac tried to lean away from Skrawl. Though his glass dome face did not offer for much variety of expression, even with what little the robot had, it was easy for Skrawl to tell that he was becoming a bit afraid of him. Craniac tried to squeeze away from him. Skrawl wasn’t about to let him get away that easily, however, and he grabbed onto the robot zoner, pinning him up firmly against the wall.

Putting his face close to his, Skrawl growled, “Oh no you don’t! You’re not going to get away from me!” Skrawl gripped onto Craniac tightly enough to lift him effortlessly from the ground. “You are going to sit there and listen to me!”

Craniac squirmed and tried to escape. Skrawl tightened his grip some more. Eventually, Craniac stopped trying to get away. He looked up at Skrawl with what could only be described as close to a look of fear and uncertainty.

Which caused Skrawl to smile.

“You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? I’m sure you know that disobeying me has always resulted in a negative fallback.” Skrawl’s face contorted with a mixture of delight and anger. “I can see it in your eyes. You know that I’m right.” He turned his head slightly to one side. “And yet you still want to deny my thoughts? You want to go against what I know is the right move...?” He stared at Craniac intently with one eye. “You know what happened the last time that we followed your path...”

Craniac shuddered a few times, likely reliving the events of Robot Rudy attacking him.

Skrawl took his silence as an admission and said, “Look, I know that I might be forceful right now. I just don’t want a repeat of last time.” He tried to sound as controlled as possible. It was true, after all. He would much rather see success in this mission than another failure. “At least try things my way this time, okay?”

There was a bit of a pause. Craniac looked like he was struggling in his computer mind to find an answer. But one look at Skrawl’s raised claws seemed to be more than enough to convince the robotic zoner to relent. “Okay, fine...! We’ll try it your way.”

Skrawl smirked at this. “Thank you.” And with that, he let the robotic zoner go.

Craniac immediately moved back, rubbing himself off and giving a few coughs. Skrawl just rolled his eyes. Of course Craniac would overreact to the situation. That seemed just like something that he would do. But he wasn’t focused on that at the moment.

Before Craniac had time to brush himself off completely, Skrawl raised a claw up. “Speaking of that Robot Rudy...” A thought had just crossed his mind. He wasn’t about to let their meeting continue without bringing it up. “Do you know what happened to it?”

Craniac stared at him in confusion, his arms frozen in a sweeping motion at his ‘chest’. “...why?”

Skrawl smiled at this. “Because I just thought of another brilliant plan to help with this one.”

Craniac just stared at him for a few long seconds, clearly not getting it. “But wouldn’t that just overcomplicate things? Shouldn’t showing the zoners what Penny does to Rudy be enough to rile them up?” He held his hand up in gesture. “Why do you need to add more things to this than there needs to be?”

Skrawl shook his head. “Of course you wouldn’t understand. I can see why.” He tilted his head slightly to one side, staring at Craniac with one eye. “But if you stop and think about it for a moment, we could....use that robot for something....very interesting.”

“Like what?”

“Think about it. What would piss the zoners off more than they would be already? They see Penny hurting Rudy, and that might be enough, sure. But we could go further than that...”

“..are you suggesting...?”

“It would be brilliant, right? Imagine the rage and the turmoil the zoners would experience..”

Skrawl could see Craniac moving back away from him once more. It was clear that Craniac wasn’t sure what to think of this idea. It almost looked like he wanted to bail out on it. Yet he still remained put, Skrawl’s physical threat still likely burning through his circuits. He was obviously not about to bail out on him now, despite clearly wanting to.

Skrawl continued to smile at him, raising his hand up and making a few gestures, trying to look as dramatic as possible. “Really think about it! If the zoners mistook Robot Rudy for the real thing before, it could happen again. We could stage something and make it look like Penny killed him. Then we just wring the footage together, perhaps add effects to make it look a little older, and voila! We have concrete proof that Penny tortured Rudy for fun and then killed him when he was of no more use!”

“I-It does sound like it would be affective...” Craniac admitted. “The zoners would certainly react to it. But...” He held his hand up and motioned to Skrawl. “How would we pull this off without them being suspicious?”

Skrawl chuckled at this, hiding his own uncertainties. “Oh I’m sure that we can figure out something.”


	18. Shivering And Difficulties

Penny wondered when she should visit her mother next. She wanted to try to keep a little more in touch with her. Not only to help her mother stop worrying, but she felt that she might...improve herself so to speak by doing this. She aware of her declining mental state. Perhaps hanging out with her mother and doing more things in the Real World could help.

But what about ChalkZone? Shouldn’t she be ruling it? Keeping things in order? Well King Skrawl should have that under control. That is what he wanted all along, right? More control? Well he could have it. She would resume power when she felt like she was ready.

For the time being, she decided it would be better to head back to where Rudy was. She wanted to see how well he was doing right now. Had he made any healing progress? Was he able to move around without getting himself hurt? At least, when his busted leg was not taken into account. That would never stop hurting. The other areas, with time, should eventually heal up. She was hoping to avoid taking him into the Real World. She didn’t want to deal with the consequences of that.

But what would happen if she did need to do that? What would she tell the doctors? Could she prevent them from doing anything that might expose Rudy’s identity? If that happened, what would she say? Would Rudy keep the secret? She narrowed her eyes at that statement. No, he wouldn’t. Even if he didn’t say anything verbal, his actions around her would speak volumes. The situation was more perilous than she realized.

Penny tried not to let herself get too distracted in her thoughts, though. Right now, she just focused on keeping herself going down the hallway, through the wall, and down towards the room where Rudy laid. She could barely keep track of her surroundings as she moved along and before she knew it, she was already back in the room.

Moving her fingers through her own hair, adjusting her scarf, Penny moved in slowly into the room. She stared out ahead at where Rudy was. She took immediate notice that he wasn’t looking over at her. A part of her wondered if he was trying to ignore her. He wasn’t even facing her. He also wasn’t moving. Was he acting like he didn’t hear her?

Penny furrowed her eyes at this and gritted her teeth. Injured or not, Rudy was not going to sit there and ignore her. She curled her fingers inward as she approached Rudy.

As she went over to him, she forced herself to chill out some of her burning sensation in the process. She worked hard to keep herself under control. But as she knew from her dull headache, it wasn’t going to be easy. Rudy needed to heal. Her attacking him again was not going to help the situation. She silently hoped that Rudy didn’t do anything to provoke her. She wasn’t sure just how well she could hold herself back. How she had acted before...

Penny tried to shake off the uncomfortable memories. She struggled not to let herself get too deep into hoping Rudy would ‘behave himself’, especially since she herself needed to do so as well. She swallowed quietly as she approached Rudy and soon she stood outside of his cage.

She saw that Rudy was still just laying there. He was mostly still. In fact, she thought that he was just a statue on the ground almost, and it made her wonder if he was trying to get some sleep. She could understand that. With little to do, she imagined that Rudy probably slept a lot, being largely awake when she was around.

But something about him laying down didn’t sit completely right. Something felt a little out of place. She furrowed her eyes a little as she watched him intently. What was she noticing that felt a little off? It took a few seconds before she came to the realization.

Rudy was trembling.

Penny narrowed her eyes slowly as she watched Rudy shaking on the ground. He wasn’t whimpering or crying or anything annoying like that. So this shaking wasn’t out of fear. The only other thing that it could be was that he was cold. Indeed, upon closer inspection, she saw that he was trying to curl up into a ball, hindered perhaps by his pain. She felt her expression soften up slightly. It would seem that, even in his sleep, Rudy was very much aware of the pain that he was in. Biting her lip, Penny proceeded inside.

Rudy did not react to her presence. He did move his head a little when she reached down to stroke his hair and cheek. But he otherwise remained unresponsive. She saw how his eyes moved underneath his eyelids and she gathered that he was dreaming. She did not want to wake him up, so she was careful in her strokes, being as light as possible.

“Ungh...” Rudy grunted softly. His eyes opened up briefly, causing Penny to freeze. But then he shut them again and let out a small sigh.

Penny looked down at Rudy and saw the goosebumps spreading along his arms. Moving her hand along one of them, she noted how rigid his arm hairs were, straightening up and struggling to help keep Rudy warm. She wasn’t really sure why he felt so cold, but...

Then a thought crossed her mind. She felt a small pang in her stomach, which she forced out of herself as she leaned in and touched his forehead. She flinched upon feeling how warm the skin was. She moved her hand back and narrowed her eyes. She would have to get something for his fever at some point. For now, she would focus in trying to keep him warm. She already knew what to do for that.

Her magic chalk flung around and side to side as she quickly sketched something out. In her hands, she soon produced a decently sized blanket, thick and a little heavy. She stared down at Rudy for a few moments before lowering the piece of cloth down and placing it carefully on his body. She watched as he moved a little at this, as though he could feel the heaviness upon him. He then returned to just laying still.

Satisfied with this, Penny turned and started to walk away. She began to wonder where Skrawl was. Perhaps she should find him and speak with him. She wanted to make sure that he was able to run this place well enough without as much of a presence from her. She imagined he was enjoying it, but she still wanted to be sure.

Then she would discuss her eventual return.

sss

As he heard the footsteps walking away from him. Rudy lifted his head up and stared over towards where Penny was now walking away. He blinked a few times, watching this in silence. He turned his head to stare at the blanket that was given to him before he looked back at Penny. His mind filled up with a mixture of thoughts.

He wondered why she hadn’t taken that chance to hurt him. She was clearly frustrated with him not responding. He could hear it in her voice and he could hear it in the way that she carried herself. And yet, despite that, she still just...carried herself like nothing was wrong. He licked his lips slowly and swallowed hard. He wanted to feel relieved by this. Yet he still held himself back. He had learned long ago not to get his hopes up.

Still, the gesture was nice and preferable over what could have happened. He turned his head to look behind him, seeing the blanket that was laid upon him. He could feel its warmth spreading throughout his body, helping his chilliness go down. He could feel himself grabbing onto the blanket and tugging on it more firmly, pulling it over his body and laying down with it. It helped him feel a sense of comfort in the wake of what had been going on. With the headache he had been suffering combined with feeling like he was locked in a fridge, having a warm blanket certainly helped things.

But would Penny take this away from him? Would she soon revert back to how she used to be in the past? Would she suddenly show up to have some ‘fun’ with him? Maybe it was the fever plaguing his body, but this thought came to his head increasingly frequently, making him feel more and more unsettled.

At least Penny did decide to leave him alone for now. He was not sure how long he could have kept up the ruse. He might have ended up letting out a yelp at her touch if she did not pull back when she had. He doubted he could keep it up next time that she came. Although she had been more gentle with him lately, he had a feeling that this was only temporary. He constantly prepared himself for everything to revert back to how it used to be.

He had little reason to think that Penny had changed. She had made it clear that she did not blame herself for Snap’s death; she blamed him. She made it clear to him that she wouldn’t accept the blame as well and would get pissed at the very idea of that. She tried to play it off like she was totally innocent. And she used her newfound power as Skrawl’s Chalk Queen to exert her dominance and anger and hatred towards him. She did whatever she could to break him, and in many ways, she had succeeded.

Rudy still felt a fear towards upsetting Penny, not wanting do anything to offend her. Rudy furrowed his eyes at this. He wanted to get over this fear and there times when he did but only when emotionally roused up enough. And even then, there was always that lingering fear. Sooner or later, he was going to have to try harder to defend himself.

Then he felt something falling in his stomach. He did try to do that, didn’t he? With Penny earlier, he did try to fight back. Look at where that got him. Rudy felt sharp pain shooting through his stomach and chest. Penny had lost her temper and brutally attacked him. Her treating him did not let up on the horrors of that memory. The only reasons that he held still for her was because she had power over him and because he was still chained up.

But perhaps it was getting close to the time when he really should consider using the magic chalk that Skrawl had given him.

He was surprised that Penny hadn’t yet found it. He had been weakened and even unconscious a few times. She could have easily searched him and found it. She had already suspected that Skrawl gave him something. That was all the justification that she needed to give his body a full search to see where he hid it. There weren’t that many places around here for him to hide such a thing. All he had is what Penny drew for him to wear. That...did not leave many options open. She just needed to get a hold of the right spot and she could easily find the chalk.

Oh well, he was glad that he still had it, anyway. He reached into the spot where he had placed it and pulled it out, staring at it intently. He turned it around slowly and then positioned his arm to start to draw. But he could barely move his arm down before he froze suddenly unable to do much else. He narrowed his eyes at this realization and he let the chalk drop to the ground, watching it role around.

It was just as he feared. Even in his sickened state, in the past he would have still been able to draw something. Now he can’t even go as far as create a line. Had the years living here been so harsh on him that he couldn’t muster up the courage to do something as simple as a line or even a circle?

He could feel his eyes starting to burn in frustration, tears leaking their way out as a result of his emotions. Had Skrawl only given him the chalk to taunt him? Was Penny aware of this? Perhaps just letting him keep it to taunt him? Was this all just some ruse by those two to make him feel as though he had a fighting chance? It would be something that he could see them doing. Taunting him and making him feel as though something was going his way for once. He felt his grip on the ground tighten, only for a wave of dizziness to wash through him, making him feel weak and collapse back into the ground.

Slowly he shut his eyes and seethed through his clenched teeth. The dizziness plaguing him weighed down on him like a block of concrete. He could feel everything around him turning into a merry-go-round, intermixing with his fearful thoughts. It made him feel sick and he rubbed his stomach lightly. Then he slowly closed his eyes and tried his best to wait it out.

He couldn’t help but wonder what Snap might be thinking now, if he still existed in a sort of spiritual way. What would he say to him in this situation? Of course, he knew what that was. His very classic ‘you gotta draw something’ line.

The memory of that caused him to smile almost bitterly. Oh how he missed hearing that... If only he could hear his friend’s voice again...

“Bucko...?”

Rudy’s eyes snapped open at this. He lifted his head up quickly, fighting against the extreme turning feeling that sank into his head, a motion feeling that could have easily caused him to topple into the ground. He swerved his head in the direction he heard that voice. He stared intently at the blurry image before him, his eyes straining to see what was going on.

There was some kind of small blue figure standing not far from him. The figure was coming towards him slowly, large white eyes staring at him. Rudy blinked slowly and he could feel himself swallowing hard as he realized who it was.

“S-Snap...?”

The blue and white figure moved even closer. Rudy saw double for a moment as he tried to adjust his vision. As it settled back in and the image appeared more sharp, he could see the figure frowning at him, staring at him intently as though he did something wrong. Rudy lifted his head up slightly and his mouth opened up. He wanted to ask what was wrong, but instead, he got interrupted.

“Why are you letting her control you, Rudy?”

The boy was too frozen to think of a quick enough response.

sss

“Ah so there you are.” Penny’s voice echoed as the woman headed into the hallway at a quicker pace. “I was wondering where you had gotten off to.”

Skrawl flinched a little at this, not having expected Penny to show up so unexpectantly. He struggled to straighten himself out and tried his best to smile as he turned to face her. “Ah my queen, nice to see that you’re out and about more often.” He motioned his hand towards her. “Do you need any assistance?”

The Chalk Queen raised her hand up to halt him. “Hold on, I need to talk to you first.” She lowered her hand down, staring at him intently, and said, “How has the ruling been going? Run into any trouble without me?”

Skrawl tried his best to hide any anger or sense of being insulted. He did, however, still narrow his eyes a little at her, raising an eyebrow slowly. “Do you really take me as being that incompetent?”

The woman shook her head. “I just wanted to make sure. I didn’t know if the zoners gave you any trouble.”

“You know, surprisingly not. They had gotten quiet lately.” The large jellybean zoner scratched his chin thoughtfully, tapping his claw lightly against his chin. “I have to wonder if it’s because they’re finally getting the message. I mean, after all...” Skrawl motioned to the Chalk Queen. “...you did take down a resistance and even got rid of another prominent leader. I bet the zoners are starting to realize that they are fighting a losing battle.”

“I would hope so. They aren’t doing themselves any favors by trying to go up against a creator.” There was a bit of hesitation to Penny’s voice, a tinge that Skrawl noticed easily. They both knew of the underlying threat that still existed. But neither commented on it. “And let’s face it. Our castle can’t keep taking in all these prisoners.” She froze at this briefly before saying, “What have you been doing with our prisoners?”

Skrawl chuckled at this before making a sweeping motion with his hand. “Oh you have nothing to worry about, my queen. They’ve been properly taken care of. I even make them something extra special for when they are particularly good.” He tapped his claws together. “Everything is quite under control as you can see.”

Penny’s eyes widened a little, as though horror was striking at her heart. Skrawl didn’t understand why. “You didn’t...”

“Kill them? Oh no, I didn’t go that far!” Skrawl paused. He tilted his head to one side. “....unless you want me to.”

“No, that’s fine. I would rather avoid that. If I killed too many zoners, that would only spark them to want to rile against me even more.” Penny turned her head away and pressed her finger to her lower lip, her eyes furrowing in thoughtfulness. “I think I should try a different approach with them. But it might be way too late for that.”

Skrawl blinked at this. “And what is that?”

Penny turned to stare at him. “What if I were to...appeal to them? Be nicer to them? Maybe they would let up if I pulled back a little. Maybe I had gripped them with a hand too ironclad. They might be more accepting if I tried to act more understanding.”

Skrawl blinked at this. After so long of being tough with the zoners, it was hard for him to imagine her willingly going back to an older style of handling things. He wasn’t sure how well this could be executed or how long it would last. It might not take her a long time before she fell back down to where she was before.

It would also put his and Craniac’s plan in jeopardy, wouldn’t it? If the zoners began to like her again...

Actually no. As a mental smile tugged at the inside of his skull, he realized that this might actually be even better. If Penny were to gain the zoners’ respect again, even just a little, then that would make the sting of finding out what she did to Rudy that much harder to swallow. The shock might cause whatever newfound respect the zoners got from her to turn into a more intense burning hatred. And that in turn could be used foster the negativity that he wanted, and then he could stage a ‘rescue’ and make Penny realize that she still needed him.

Yes, this could work absolutely nicely. The thought brought a smile to his face.

“Why are you smiling like that?” Penny’s voice cut him from his thoughts. “Did you get an idea?”

Skrawl nearly spluttered. He somehow managed to regain his composure quickly enough to avoid sinking himself into deeper trouble. He kept the smile upon his face, stretching it a little more. Though he didn’t have any thoughts right now, it didn’t take long for him to quickly formulate something on the spot. His brain crafted the ideas together so that he was able to give the Chalk Queen a believable response.

“Well actually, there was something...”

The Chalk Queen furrowed her eyes slightly. “I’m listening.”

Skrawl continued to speak, ensuring that he did not miss a step in his little speech. “I have to say that your idea is absolutely splendid! Having the zoners be more obedient would make both of our jobs that much easier.” He rubbed his hands together softly. “Perhaps you could try to win back their trust by removing a small bit of your presence. Perhaps granting them a bit more freedom. Baby steps of course...” He motioned his hands back and forth. Then he held one hand up, palm facing upwards. “But it would be enough to respark some trust in you, I’m sure.”

The Chalk Queen rubbed her chin thoughtfully at this. Her eyes were narrowed, showing that she was really considering his suggestion. “Well that does sound like a good idea. Small and slow, but still leaving room to still be firm.” She straightened herself up, folding her hands behind her back. “Excellent suggestion, King Skrawl. You’ve really proven yourself this time.”

“Why thank you!” Skrawl tried to fight back against his insulted feelings, trying to ignore how condescending the woman sounded right then. “When do you think you should get started?”

“I think tomorrow would be best.” Penny turned her head down slightly. “I am going to need to prepare my speech before I try anything. Best to be prepared and all, you know?”

“I agree.” Skrawl said. “And if you don’t mind, I can further help you with that. Craniac and I were just talking and I think we uncovered something that just might help...”

sss

It hadn’t been easy. Though she stood up on here now, though she had managed to get at least a small population of the zoners to attend, this still was very difficult. The woman could feel herself shaking a little as she stood there. It didn’t matter that Skrawl was nearby for support. It didn’t change the fact that the zoners were still here, glaring at her, ready to tear into her at any moment. She would have to tread lightly with what she was about to say.

As such, Penny drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She tried her best to remain cool, calm, and collected. Showing any signs of weakness in front of these zoners could end in disaster. She knew full well what they might do. She couldn’t give them that opportunity.

She also had to take care not to say anything stupid. No doubt these zoners were going to tell their comrades everything that she was going to say when they got home. While that’s what she wanted, it was still something she needed to be aware of. Just one slip up was all that it could take to tear everything down. She reminded herself of what Skrawl told her. There was nothing about what he had told her that he seemed capable of twisting into his own benefit. Perhaps he was starting to see the merit in helping her succeed instead of trying to find ways of bettering only himself.

She shook the thoughts out of her mind for now as she turned her mind to address the zoners in front of her. She could see how they were staring at her intently, glares plastered on most of their faces. A few looked more fearful and some were acting disinterested, but were clearly just putting on a show. Penny watched the crowd of zoners in front of her for a few seconds before she cleared her throat and she started her speech.

“Greetings, my fellow zoners. I, your queen, have called you here today to announce something important.”

She paused for a moment to look around. She could tell that none of the zoners looked pretty happy with her talk. Not that she had expected them to. But it was still a bit unnerving to see how they were glaring at her still, even more intently than before. She swallowed lightly before forcing herself to continue.

“As you might have noticed, things haven’t been going that well as of late. I have had to deal with a number of...outliers who keep trying to cause me trouble. That in turn has led me to being forced to become more...tight.” Penny turned her head from side to side to scan the area before her. None of the zoners’ expressions changed. “Tighter security. More lockdowns. More cameras. You name it. It’s been done.”

One of the zoners interrupted her. “Oh don’t fucking flatter yourself! You are not fooling anyone!”

“Yeah!” Another zoner spoke up, raising his fist upwards. “You have been taking away everything before and I doubt that these ‘outliers’ forced your hand!”

Penny narrowed her eyes a little, feeling her teeth gritting against each other tightly. She still had to force herself to remain pleasant-looking, at least to some degree. As much as she would have loved to make an example out of those two, she had to keep herself in check. If she did something against them, then that would only further prove their point and it would make this that much harder to do.

She had a feeling that these two weren’t going to be the only zoners who interrupt her. She would have to be prepared for it and respond as best as possible. She silently hoped that she could manage to keep everything under control. Clearing her throat, she continued to speak, acting as if those zoners had never spoken up at all.

“I can understand that this has led to many of you becoming frustrated and tired. I know that this isn’t the best of times right now and you all must be feeling confused. I gathered you here today to discuss this and hope to settle somethings down.” Penny didn’t exactly like the way that she had worded that, but it would have to do for now. She pressed on, “I am hoping that, by the end of this meeting, you will leave here at least....somewhat happier than before.”

She stopped for the time being and watched the zoners. She could see them still glaring at her. There were a handful that were either staring at her in confusion or were at least somewhat intrigued by her statement. She didn’t think that there would be too much of a change in the zoners’ behavior, and there weren’t. But she still kept herself still and rigid as she waited for any potential blow back.

As she waited in silence, she thought about what Skrawl had suggested to her. Well more specifically Skrawl and Craniac. In addition to her original plan in pull back a little, they added in that perhaps she should try to create something for them. Not a huge thing, but at least something as a small, kind gesture to get the zoners off of her back. She did like the idea; if she could keep the zoners satisfied in one way or another, then they just might be more willing to leave her alone, less likely to organize another attack against her. Granted some zoners might still try it anyway, but the numbers might reduce if she played her cards right.

She growled inwardly when she remembered Skrawl asking her if there was anything else she wanted to work on. Of course, she had to tell him no, but in truth, she was a bit...concerned regarding Rudy. She didn’t know where she was headed with him and what she wanted in the end. Did she even want to mend him up completely or just enough so that she could toy with him again? She honestly didn’t know what the answer truly was.

She became so distracted by her own words that she failed to realize that one of the zoners was trying to speak up to her. At least, not until they yelled for what might have been the third time.

“Hey! Chalk Queen! Are you going to answer me or what?!”

Penny snapped herself back to attention. She looked down to see just how had spoken up. She tried not to groan when she recognized Bobby Sue. Alone of course; she had to lock up her family in the past as they had been one of the earliest outliers trying to defy her rule. Penny sarcastically thought of just what Bobby Sue was going to want with her.

“What was your question?” Penny asked, trying to sound as firm as possible.

Bobby Sue frowned and said, “So with all of this that you’re bringing up, just what did you have in mind? It sounds like you’re cutting yourself a little shy and shedding some weight, if you catch my drift.” She shrugged her shoulders and turned her head slightly to one side. “Like...releasing some of our comrades that you locked away?”

“Yeah, let them go!”

“I want to see my husband again!”

“You had promised it would only be temporary!”

Penny winced at how loud the voices were getting. She wasn’t sure if Bobby Sue had intended on things going this way, but she had certainly succeeded if that had been her goal. Penny raised her hands up and motioned quickly with them, spreading her hands outward to signal to them to shut their mouths. “Now listen! I already told you that they had all committed crimes against me and they have to be detained and....!” Upon seeing the zoners’ glaring faces and remembering why she was here, she cleared her throat and attempted to speak more calmly. “....but if they continue on with their good behavior, I suppose I could let a few of them go. The cells would become too crowded if I didn’t do that.”

The zoners looked a little satisfied with that. At least to some degree. She had her doubts it would last forever. She had a feeling that they were just waiting for her to say something else stupid. But for now, at least it seemed to work a little bit.

Penny continued, “What I do plan on doing right now, however, is pulling back on the security. I realize that I had gone a bit too overboard, invading your privacy far more than I actually need to. Therefore, I am calling for the shutdown of at least the house cameras. The city itself will still be monitored.” She brought her hands together and upwards. “But at least now you don’t need to worry about that in your homes.” She paused for a moment and then added, “But the rules shall still remain.”

The zoners were watching her carefully, likely waiting to hear her say something else, such as tightening up existing rules or do another thing that would negate these changes anyway. She wasn’t surprised by them thinking like this and it would be hard to convince them otherwise. Nonetheless, she tried to remain firm and wait to hear what they were going to say.

The zoners looked at each other carefully. None of them looked happy or like they were going to celebrate. Instead, they were more....cautious if anything. Just standing there and wondering what was going to happen next. They had little reason to believe her and she wasn’t going to improve anything if she hurried things along. So she gave them some time and space to think about what she told them.

Perhaps now was the time for her to leave them be. She feared that if she stood there any longer, the zoners might decide to twist her words and perhaps go up against her. Remaining in public like this for long was never a good idea. For all she knew, the zoners might have a trap ready for her and if she just stood here gawking like an idiot, she was only giving them a chance to strike. So instead, she just bowed forward a little signaling to the zoners that she was done talking. Then she turned to try to walk away.

Bobby Sue didn’t let her leave just yet. “Now hold up there, sugar!”

Penny stopped and turned to face Bobby Sue. “Yes, what is it?”

“If you’re really going to lower down your so-called ‘security’, how is this going to benefit you in anyway?” Bobby Sue held her hand up and motioned to Penny. “You’re the queen as you say, so how will this help you out? I would have thought that increasing the number of cameras was more your thing.”

Some of the zoners around her started to nod in agreement.

“She does have a good point...”

“What else is going on, Chalk Queen?”

Penny bit her lip. She could hear the zoners starting to ask her more questions. She started to back up slightly. She had to force herself to remain still, knowing that she couldn’t show weakness in front of them. But what was she going to do? She couldn’t....

“Okay now that is enough!” A voice called out. Penny turned her head to see Skrawl coming up onto the platform now. “You heard your queen! You are getting a looser security system and soon some of your comrades will be released from lock down! I thought that’s what the lot of you wanted!” He raised his hand up, curling his claws inward. “Now quit your complaining and show some fucking appreciation!”

Skrawl’s speech did manage to shut up the zoners. Penny smiled warily and said, “Thanks....King Skrawl.”

The jellybean zoner turned his head and gave her a slight smirk. “You are welcome, Chalk Queen.”

Skrawl’s voice sounded forced.


	19. Help From An Awkward Place

Rudy curled himself up on the ground, trying to fight against the memories that started to swirl around in his head. He hadn’t had vision like that before, or since, but though it’s been a few days, he was still fighting against the mere memory of it all.

There was no way that it could have been Snap. Especially with how the figure seemed to fade from existence in a matter of seconds. However, that did not stop him from recalling the words said, nor could he ignore the impact that he felt inside of his chest with each memory of the word. He struggled to keep his mind’s spinning under control. But he wasn’t sure how much more of it that he could take.

The fact that this was going on when he wasn’t feeling all that well made it worse. The pain still lingered in his body. His injuries were not yet fully healed and some, like his broken rib, felt like it was getting worse. He felt a little dizzy and Penny had mentioned to him that his fever was getting worse. It was getting to the point where he should really be seeing a Real World doctor, but Penny was not relenting.

Figures, he thought bitterly to himself. Although Penny appeared to be taking some strides to improve herself, it wasn’t nearly enough. She still kept him shackled in this room and still limited what he could do. She might have pulled back on some of the surveillance, but it was still going strong. It was of no surprise to him to hear that not many of the zoners were satiated by this. And sure, she did let a couple prisoners go, but that was only after enough pressure and Skrawl himself suggested that she do it. Skrawl must be up to something, though the boy was still glad he could convince Penny to do something.

How could he hope to deal with this situation properly if he didn’t know what to do? He was only feeling a little better compared to before and now it felt like things were going downhill again. His damaged rib continued to feel increasingly worse and it wasn’t just him. He noticed that Penny’s arm and hand movement were getting increasingly stiffened and she seemed a bit more tender. This was mainly noticeable to him whenever she had to do something for him. This was likely one of the actual reasons she was letting him eat more on his own. She probably was hurting too much to hold onto him as well as she could before.

A part of him wondered how this was translating for the other zoners. Had they noticed this going on as well? Were they aware of Penny’s change in behavior? Were they going to take advantage of it? How would he himself feel if that would happen?

He felt a burning sensation in his stomach at the thought. As much as he would like the zoners to free themselves, only Penny knew of where he was and Skrawl’s memory was supposedly erased, if Penny were telling the truth. That meant that if she were overthrown and defeated, then he might be permanently trapped in here. And by that point, he might be too sick to try to draw anything with the magic chalk.

He felt ashamed that he hadn’t used it yet. But he had heard of the saying about waiting for the right moment. The magic chalk would be his trump card for the time being. Perhaps, if a miracle happens, he wouldn’t need to use it at all.

His mind shifted back to that conversation he had with ‘Snap’. He had been in too much shock to really fight back against the words too much. In fact, ‘Snap’ was the one who did most of the talking. It was largely ridicule, asking, no, demanding to know why he hadn’t taken advantage of the situation. ‘Snap’ had reminded Rudy, in some rather harshly chosen words, on what Penny had done to him and that he could get her back using the magic chalk.

But Rudy still resisted. He realized that what he was seeing were the manifestation of his own resentment and issues. But if he fell into them the way that Penny had, then he would wind up no better than her. He wanted to try to remain above her and figure out a better way to handle his situation.

But in the end, how long would that last? How long would it take before he would be forced to do what was necessary? Could he really hide behind the curtain of ‘morality’ forever? If Penny did snap again and she tried to kill him, could he really stop himself from taking out the magic chalk to defend himself?

He should already know the answer to this by now.

That did still bring to light the issue of how long could he handle this. He knew that he eventually would need to take a stand. But how long could he…

Rudy immediately felt himself cringing with his hairs raising on end when he heard Penny walking into the room. An instinctual reaction at this point that he couldn’t stop or control that well. He swerved his head to see her walking in, nearly stretching his muscles in the process. He felt his heart pounding in his chest as she drew in a little closer, putting his hand to it as he tried to soften it up a little.

Penny didn’t seem to care to look at him. She looked a little preoccupied. Was there another conflict with a zoner? Was she getting exhausted by all of this? Rudy dared not say anything out of fear that she would retaliate against him. The pains echoing in his body were proof of that. Yet he still found himself attempting to crawl a little closer towards the front of the cage. His stomach burned with the almost morbid desire to know.

Penny let out a low growl as she put her hand to her forehead. She gripped at her skin tightly, causing Rudy to pull back a little. He half-expected her to turn around to glare at him, to force him to roll back against the ground. None of that happened, however, and Penny just looked entirely focused on tilting her head towards the ground, engrossed in whatever was troubling her.

Rudy knew it was going to be a bad idea to speak up. He tried to force his shaking body on the ground to appear like he was attempting to sleep. Yet something still drew him to Penny’s situation. Something still gnawed at him and he found it impossible to ignore it for much longer. There was just something about how Penny was sitting there that drove him, compelled him to do something.

And before he realized what was happening, the words left his mouth.

“Wh-What’s going on…?”

He immediately froze when he said that. But it was too late to take it back. He could see Penny turning to look at him now. Her gaze was hard and her eyes were furrowed. This made Rudy immediately pull back, fearful that he might have triggered something.

Instead, the reaction that he got was completely different and unexpected.

Penny gave out a small sigh. Her posture became a little slack as she turned her head up. Any sign of her previous anger was gone, replaced with something closer to hesitation and uncertainty. “I’m not sure. I suppose a lot of things. Heh, isn’t it funny that when you try to help people, they bite you back in the ass?”

Rudy didn’t attempt to interrupt her. He knew better not to. But he couldn’t lie that he wasn’t curious about what she was talking about.

“I mean, at least I’m trying, right? Shouldn’t that be worth something to those people?” Penny said firmly, raising her hand up in gesture. “They still treat me like I’m trying to squeeze the life out of them.” She paused for a moment before she continued, “I mean sure, maybe I did go too far, but how can anything improve if they don’t try? It’s just all so…” She squeezed her hand shit, growling through her clenched teeth. “They’re making it so easy for me to just go back to how things used to be. At least it was easier back then.”

Rudy felt his eyes widen at that statement. He cleared his throat and he dared to speak. “B-B-But wouldn’t that just roll back any sort of…”

“Yes I know. But they’re hardly giving me a choice, Rudy.” Penny hissed at him, though it didn’t look like she was angry at him. “They won’t get off my back! They keep making more and more demands! I can’t untangle everything at once! And I can’t just pull out of the control room, so to speak. Not after so much time has passed. Things are just….” She put her hand to her head and rubbed it as she took a more thoughtful posture, reminiscent of that classic art statue Rudy could barely remember. “The zoners don’t get that things are more complicated than that.”

“W-Well… you did give them a reason to distrust you…” Rudy whispered softly.

Penny turned to give him a small glare. “What was I supposed to do then, Rudy? I couldn’t just…. I was already too far in…. The zoners would have rejected me… What would my mother have thought? Yours?” Penny’s body trembled as she spoke. “I-I had no choice, Rudy. I simply didn’t have a choice…”

Rudy narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling a bit of adrenaline giving him a tad bit of courage. Though he might come to regret this later, he still managed to speak, “And s-s-so that gave you permission to treat everyone here like trash?! That meant that you c-c-could go on becoming a t-tyrant?!”

Penny appeared to flinch at these comments, reeling herself back. But instead of stopping the conversation, she seemed to get pulled in. She was already up on her feet and took a few steps towards the cage. “And what the fuck would you have done if you were in that situation?! If the roles had been reversed, what would you have done?! You love to pretend that you’re so fucking smart!” Penny’s fingers curled in against her palm as she waited for Rudy’s answer.

Rudy was frozen for a few seconds, not expecting this sort of question. Penny had never asked him something like this before. But he still knew what he was going to say. He exhaled slowly and did not miss a beat.

“I would have stopped Skrawl… Then I would have been honest about my mistake and try to repair whatever reputation damage I had garnered.” He gave a small pause as he saw Penny’s slightly softening expression. “...and I would have done it right away instead of letting things build up over years. I don’t think I could ever entangle the web that would have weaved…”

There was a bit of silence that followed this. The two stared at one another long and hard. The air around them grew more and more tense, feeling as though a blanket was moving over them. Rudy tried not to let himself look too unnerved or uncomfortable. He remained as rigid as possible, keeping his body stiff as he waited to hear Penny’s response.

His stomach stung as he feared the worst. There were so many ways for this to go wrong. There were so many paths that this could end up sinking down in and he feared what might happen as a result. Penny looked as though she was building up a lot of pressure and with how she was breathing, it was like her throat was getting increasingly dryer. Rudy was not comforted when Penny appeared to relax and turn her head away.

“...of course you would say that. You don’t really understand the situation much, do you?” Penny said softly, a smile spreading along her face. “You haven’t felt what I did that day. You don’t know how much you can lose control….” She looked down at her hand, chuckling humorously. She flexed her fingers. “...until it happens.”

Rudy furrowed his eyes at this. He couldn’t really deny what the woman was saying. It was true that it can be hard to control yourself sometimes. But that wasn’t going to mean that he had to agree with her that there was no other choice. Penny was just giving up. That was her problem. Not his.

“Don’t try to act like you’re some kind of helpless little worm. You had the choice back then. You’ve always had a choice.” Rudy said firmly. “But it looks like you’ve just been too much of a coward to really see that.”

Penny’s head moved so fast that Rudy nearly jolted back. “What the fuck did you just say to me…?”

Rudy felt his cold, icy fear returning and he scrambled to get back. “I-I….” He couldn’t continue. He swallowed the hard lump in his throat as he lifted his head up to stare at Penny fearfully.

Penny narrowed her eyes at him, curling her lip up into a snarl. “You just really like pushing my buttons, don’t you…? Well then…” Penny started to make her way over towards him, moving in that swaying fashion like she had before. Her eyes looked like they had darkened and she was chuckling softly, her teeth exposed in a broad grin. “I’ll just have to…”

Suddenly, Penny stopped, as though realizing what she was about to do. She gripped the sides of her head, her eyes filling up with fear, and she quickly took a few steps back. She took in a few trembly breaths before shaking her head and clearing her throat. Rudy still did not relax out of his defensive posture.

“W-Well anyway…” Penny brushed herself off. “L-Let’s just forget about that for now.” She cleared her throat again as she resumed coming towards the cage. “I didn’t come down here to get all emotional with you.” Penny slowly took out her piece of magic chalk. Rudy’s eyes immediately filled with fear and he scrambled to get back. Penny rolled her eyes and let out a small scoff. “Oh stop it, Rudy. I’m not going to hurt you. I just wanted to….give you something.”

This did not reassure Rudy one bit and he still tried to scramble to get away. Instincts still told him to fear Penny whenever she brought out the magic chalk. Just because Penny promised not to hurt him, that didn’t mean the fears were going to die down anytime soon. “J-J-Just what are you g-g-going to do?” He swallowed hard, his throat feeling dry like shit. “I d-don’t..”

Penny let out a sigh as she casually opened up the door to walk in. She didn’t bother closing it. She just walked right towards Rudy, ignoring how he was pulling at the chain to get away from her. The pain in his chest caused him to cry out and he staggered, allowing Penny to get in close pretty quickly.

“You need to stop struggling so much.” Penny commented. “You’re only making things worse.”

Rudy clutched at his chest as he laid on the ground. He took in a few deep breaths, trying to fill his lungs with some oxygen. The pain was so sharp, it felt like a blockaide shoved up inside of him. He stared at Penny, unable to muster up any further courage to glare at her. “Y-You could just take me into the Real World and…”

“I can’t do that.” Penny cut him off, her eyes narrowing. “It...wouldn’t be a good idea.”

“Wh-Why not?” Rudy asked.

“....bad investment.” Penny hesitated before she had answered.

And Rudy took notice. “So in other words, you’re afraid of what might happen if you showed up and say that I was still alive, because then you’d have to explain why you lied and that would create an avalanche of thorns, wouldn’t it?” His voice wasn’t angry. It was more just disappointment….and a bit of understanding, even if he didn’t agree with her actions before.

“Y-You just don’t understand. It’s not as simple as that….” Penny spluttered, her voice shaky. “I-If I came back with you and… What would they say? H-How could it be explained? Wh-Wh-What if they f-find remnants of chalk on you? And what if Ms. Bouffant somehow…”

“I understand.”

Penny appeared to freeze at this, staring at Rudy in shock. “Y-You do..?”

Rudy nodded his head rigidly. “I don’t like it, but I do see your point. You’re right. Things aren’t that simple. Taking me back to the Real World might open up a big can of worms.” He paused for a moment, keeping his stare away from Penny. He slowly looked at her. “But you and I both know what the right answer is.” He turned his gaze slightly down. “And we can agree that the right thing to do is often the hardest thing to do…”

Penny stared at him long and hard. There felt as though there was a mixture of emotion in her eyes. It was hard to tell what she was thinking. A part of Rudy feared that she might respond badly to what he said. He cringed slightly and waited to hear what she said. He silently hoped that she could still restrain herself at least a little bit.

Penny gritted her teeth, her eyes turning to one side, showing a brief flash of nervousness. “I….suppose so…” More silence followed as she looked back at Rudy somewhat sideways. She stayed like this for a few seconds and then said, “A-Anyway, about what I wanted to give you….”

Rudy tensed up and remained quiet as Penny leaned in with the chalk. What was she going to do?

sss

Penny gritted her teeth as she tried to get the thing to stick to Rudy’s leg. She probably should have tested it out earlier...however that was possible..before trying to do this. But she was here already and she couldn’t turn back.

“Grr...hold still, Rudy!” Penny hissed when Rudy tried to pull his leg away. “This isn’t going to go any smoother if you try to move back!”

Rudy’s eyes were shut tightly and he looked like he was fighting back against his tears. It was a fight that he was clearly losing. Rudy seethed through his clenched teeth, “I-I’m sorry, but it hurts...”

“It’ll hurt less if you quit your squirming!” Penny snapped at him.

Though Rudy did reluctantly try to hold still, it didn’t seem to be enough. His body was trembling in pain and fear and it was difficult for Penny to properly adjust the device. She was still hopeful that the leg brace would work. At least to the best of its ability that was possible. She might have been able to come up with something that would function even better, but considering that it would have involved drilling nails into Rudy’s leg.... No, that wasn’t going to be an option. This was really the best that she could do.

She leaned back to look at what she had created. The leg brace consisted of metal bands that wrapped around at two points on Rudy’s right leg. One was around his thigh and the other on his chin. They were longer pieces of metal than what still adorned around his neck. They were firm, yes, but that was necessary. The bands themselves were held together with polyester straps, providing an even more firm grasp for the brace and keep it from slipping down.

All in all, while it could have been better, it was still something at least. She thought about making some corrections to it, but it was clear that Rudy was getting uncomfortable. She wasn’t interested in hearing him continue to whimper and cry. No doubt he’d continue to do that if she kept messing with his sensitive right leg. So perhaps right here is where she should end it.

At least when it came to creating the brace, anyway. There was still something else to do.

And that was to test it out.

Penny put away her magic chalk. She noticed that Rudy seemed to immediately calm down a little at this. She tried not to react too much to that and instead focused on the next step. She moved back a little and made a few quick motions with her hand. “Okay, let’s put that thing to the test. Try with standing first. Get up onto your feet.”

Rudy looked over at her like she was nuts. “But you know how....”

“Yes, I’m aware of how much it hurts you to stand. Frankly, I’m amazed that you could have run out like you had before.” Penny could see Rudy flinch at this coolled remark. “But that was without a brace. Now, do as I say and stand up.”

“But...”

“Just fucking do it!”

Rudy cringed at this, nearly falling against the ground. He stared at Penny long and hard, unable to move, as though too afraid. His eyes widened and he remained rigid like this as the seconds ticked by. Penny just glared at him and waited for him to make his move. She wasn’t afraid to head over and force him up if she had to. She hoped that Rudy would get the idea and start to move himself.

Rudy slowly looked down at his leg. He turned it slightly, examining the brace carefully. He reached down and placed his hand against it, applying small pressure to it. He flinched and hissed, yanking his hand away. It was obvious that he was irritating the leg, which Penny had to roll her eyes to. Rudy examined the leg for a few more seconds, then at last, he seemed to finally listen to her. He started to twist his shaking body around a little as he began the slow, painful process of getting up from the ground.

This began with his hands on the ground first to push against, offering an area of balance. Then he lifted up his good left leg and put that foot on the ground. He pushed himself up slowly. His arms stretched outward and flapped about as he tried his best to remain balanced. He then leaned a little forward and lifted his bad leg now. There seemed to be a large amount of pressure building up to the moment when Rudy put his right leg down. Penny’s eyes remained glued on the foot as it made touch down.

Rudy almost immediately coiled at this and moved back, nearly tripping over himself. He tugged on the chain as he started to fall back. Penny reacted fast and launched herself forward. She grabbed onto Rudy’s shirt collar and yanked him back. She held him up like this for a few seconds, giving him some sense of balance.

“Slowly, Rudy...” She said firmly. She motioned towards his foot. “Put it down and slowly put pressure on it.”

Rudy gulped, but he didn’t dare try to contradict her. He followed her instructions and his leg was lowly lowered back to the ground. He hissed as his right foot made contact due to the waves of pain that hit up against his damaged thigh. But this time, with Penny’s help, he was able to keep himself from falling down. He drew in a deep breath and exhaled deeply and then he started to lean in forward slowly, gradually putting more pressure on the leg. Slowly but surely, Rudy started to move forward as though he were going to walk and then...

“Aaaah!” Rudy immediately slumped into the ground despite Penny’s efforts to keep him standing. He kept himself up with his hands and his head was low. His body shook as he released a series of low whimpers. “P-Please no more.... I-It hurts...!”

Penny stared at him as she felt a small pang in her stomach. She closed her eyes and she let out a small sigh. “Okay, Rudy. We can stop.” She reopened her eyes as she stared into his eyes. “But the brace is to stay on. You’ll get used to it. I’ll remove it when it’s time for sleep.” She slowly folded her arms to her chest. “We’re going to practice daily. You need to build up a tolerance. I can assure you that you’ll eventually walk again. Not as good as you once did, but at least it’ll be less painful for you.”

Rudy gritted his teeth as he lightly rubbed his hand along the brace. The pain shone heavily in his eyes. “Y-You think that I can get b-b-better at this?”

Penny nodded her head. “Of course!”

“Oh...” Rudy lowered his head for a moment, thoughts rushing through his head. He looked back up at her and tilted his head to one side. “....why are you doing this for me...?”

Penny jerked for a little, not having expected this sort of question this fast. She spluttered as she struggled to figure out just what she should say. Even she herself wasn’t entirely sure. She tried to find something in the back of her head, but there was just nothing there. Eventually, licking her dried lips, she said, “W-Well, would you prefer that nothing is done...?”

Rudy shook his head slowly. “I....I suppose not...”

“I didn’t think so.” Penny stated. “Now try to relax. Don’t worry too much about tomorrow. It’s that time of the week.” She could see how Rudy’s eyes immediately widened. She raised her hand up before he could say anything. “We’ll continue to work on your walking skills, but you’ll get a break for a day. Maybe I can even find some exercises to help you build up tolerance without having to walk. How does that sound?”

“I don’t know... This still sounds so weird to me.” Rudy flinched and clutched at this side. After the pain rode out of him, he continued, “I don’t know if....I can trust you.”

Penny wasn’t sure why this stung so hard. She shouldn’t be surprised. She had given Rudy every reason not to trust her. Even she herself had to admit that she did not know why she was helping him. Was it a guilty conscience? Did ‘Snap’ convince her to do this? There were so many questions crowding around inside of her head and it was difficult to sort it all out.

But she still didn’t back down. With her eyes furrowed, she said, “Just do what I say. I don’t care if you trust me or not. All I want from you is absolute obedience. Don’t try to slink away from what I tell you to do, or I will give you a reason to be terrified of me, okay?”

Rudy cringed back from her, not saying a word. His mouth hung open and he looked like he was struggling to speak. Only small cries could escape his throat.

Penny realized what she said and moved back from him. She stared at him with a widened-eyed pursed-lip expression. She wasn’t really sure what else she could add after that point. The only thing that she could do was just back away from Rudy and leave him alone.


	20. Confidence

“So we are in agreement then?” The zoner asked. “You agreed to not only repair these old buildings that you had a hand in destroying, but you are also not going to implant them with your hideous enforcers?”

Penny flinched at the zoner’s words. A part of her wanted to give him a piece of her mind. How dare he squish on her efforts to keep the city safer… But then she recalled that Craniac and King Skrawl were with her. She turned her head and she could see them nodding their heads in approval. They were the ones who put her up to this and she had her doubts that she had any choice to back out now.

Well she could. But they did promise this guy that she would keep true to her word. New homes but no enforcers. In fact, she had been told by Craniac himself to try to cut down on the enforcer stuff. Something about how the zoners might feel more compelled to follow her if she didn’t try to force them to.

Penny nodded her head and made a quick motion to the side with her hand. “You have my word.”

The zoner, a simple stick figure with a long beard and mustache, eyed her carefully. He stroked along his facial hair and didn’t seem like he was buying her words so easily. Penny would have said something else to try to sound convincing, but then she realized that might make the situation worse.

At least the silence didn’t last for very long. “Very well then. I’ll believe you.” He paused for a moment before proceeding to point in Penny’s direction with an almost accusing glare. “But I am still going to keep my eye on you, queenie. You don’t have me fooled.”

Penny gritted her teeth, but still managed to keep herself standing there. She nodded her head slowly and said, “I...understand.”

The zoner scoffed at this. He took a few steps to the side and made a few dismissive waves of his hands. “Well? Go on and do your dirty work, queen.” He gave a wry smile. “Draw something up to make these homes more...inhabitable.”

Penny ignored the man’s words as she focused on the homes in front of her. There were just a handful of them, but they still looked awful nonetheless. They were pretty torn up with many parts missing. There was at least one house that she was shocked was even still standing up. It was no wonder that no zoners had been living here for quite a long while.

She recalled that, before her...assault, there were some large families living here. Made sense. These homes were pretty large and could house a lot of people. They were particularly crowded at times and she was certain they had been used to host parties. At least, when they were still functional and a place to go to. Nowadays, many zoners sought to avoid this area. It had been one of Penny’s earlier targets when the zoners were much more against her being queen. And it was for this reason that Skrawl and Craniac believed that fixing this place may help further rise up her reputation with the zoners.

She didn’t really know if it would work or not, though. She had little reason to think that it would do much. But she also knew that it wouldn’t do more damage, either. So what did she have to lose, aside from time? Penny raised up her magic chalk and immediately went to work.

Boy, this did feel familiar to her. Helping out zoners by repairing homes and… It was just the same thing that Rudy would have done, right..?

Penny felt her head filling up with many thoughts about what Rudy used to do around here. She shut her eyes for a moment and became lost in her thoughts. She could still hear the zoners shouting Rudy’s name when he would do something particularly great. The memory brought to her the smallest, faintest of a smile, something that she didn’t realize until she was cut off from her thoughts.

“Hey, queenie! You going to do something or stand there and smile like an idiot?!”

Penny was jolted back to reality. She turned her head to see the zoner standing there with his arms folded. She frowned at him. He was pretty brave for trying to tackle a creator like that. But no matter. She didn’t need to deal with him at the moment. She instead focused on what she had come here to do.

Penny couldn’t help but cringe a little as she saw what she was producing. Though she had gotten better with drawing things, she still felt a bit rigid and stiff about this in particular. She felt a small somewhat burning sensation in her hand and mind, the same sort of feeling that she would get during times when she was drawing something beyond what she was used to. She felt a little hesitant. Perhaps it was because there was some more at stake with this drawing. If she failed to impress the zoner….

Bah, why should she worry about that? She could find other wise of getting these zoners to stop giving her a hard time. She shook her head quickly and she forced herself to continue, breaking through that stiff feeling from before. And once she did that, everything seemed to go much more smoothly.

It took seconds for the lines to fill up throughout the air, twisting and turning and going in all sorts of directions. It almost looked like a jigsaw puzzle coming to life, with all the points coming to meet together to create something truly spectacular. Or at least, suitable enough. Penny soon stopped with the first building, her arm aching. She lowered her arm and took a step back, and it took no time at all before a flash of light moved along the building. With it, the color splashed in, rising up and engulfing the entire building.

It was complete.

The zoner from before, whom she never bothered to learn the name of, walked forward and examined the building. He looked at it up and down, scratching his chin thoughtfully and giving a low humming sound. “Hmm….not to bad… Chalk Queen.”

Penny gave a small smile. That was probably the most respectful this zoner had sounded. It probably wouldn’t happen again.

“Eh…” The zoner squished his fingers towards each other as he looked higher up at the building. “Could have used a more flat ceiling and..” He looked over and he could see the small glare on Penny’s face. Despite his previous defiance, there did seem to be a tiny bit of fear in him. He raised his hands up quickly and said, “B-But this’ll do! Anyway..” He rubbed his hands together. “Are you going to fix the other homes today or….?”

Penny’s smile broadened. She glanced over at Skrawl and Craniac to see them nodding in approval. Then she looked back at the zoner. “I will make sure that is taken care of for you.”

The zoner returned the smile. “Thank you...Chalk Queen…”

Unbeknownst to Penny, both Craniac and King Skrawl glanced at each other and gave each other a smirk.

sss

Penny furrowed her eyes as she saw how Rudy was limping away from her. She rolled her eyes, frustrated and annoyed that, even after she had promised not to treat him the way she had before, he still strived to avoid her. Was he really that scared of her that…. She gave pause at this thought. Of course he was. Why should she be surprised?

Penny managed to put out her frustration and soften up her expression a little. Despite the difficulties, she had to try to remember that he had reason to act this way. Especially since… She knocked that thought out of her mind as she gestured for Rudy to come over. She tried to look and sound as gentle as possible.

“Come along. You need some relaxation. I won’t force you to use your leg much.” Penny said. She looked down at the leg that she had put a brace on before, biting her lip. She tilted her gaze back up at Rudy and said, “Just walk over to me and I’ll take you to the bed.”

This immediately caused Rudy’s eyes to widen in horror. Penny could see how fast his face was paling and now he was scrambling on the ground to get further away from her. She thought she could see his leg kicking out against the chain link where it attached to the ground. “N-No… Please!” Rudy pleaded with her. “I-I don’t want to do that…” He looked up at her with those wide, frightful eyes, reacting as though Penny was about to put him through a series of torment again. “C-Can’t I just stay in here?”

Penny blinked at this. “You would rather be locked up like an animal during this time…” She put a hand to herself, raising an eyebrow. “..instead of being somewhere more comfortable?” When Rudy nodded his head, she put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “Feh...you really are something, Rudy.”

“Y-You just want to control me. I can see it in your e-e-eyes.” Rudy swallowed hard. He moved back a little, turning his head away. “These ‘sessions’ are just for you to unleash your more raw emotions in a..different way. They’re little more than your playtime moments.” He shut his eyes lightly. “Why should I feel safe with you?”

“Because I…!” Penny stopped herself. She gritted her teeth tightly, sucking in a rough-sounding breath to try to force herself to relax some more. Then she spoke again, her teeth remaining pressed up tightly against each other. “...because I’m trying to help you… Doesn’t that count for anything…?”

Rudy’s body was still trembling. It seemed to have gotten worse when Penny spoke up like that. She could see how his body was curling inwards against itself, almost like Rudy were desperately trying to form himself into a ball to roll around. He slowly turned his head to look at her. With how wide his eyes had gotten, she half expected to him to cry out again, to make more pleas to leave him alone.

That was why she was surprised that his body had suddenly relaxed. Well as much as was possible, anyway. Rudy still looked afraid of her, but there seemed to be a sense of surrender in his eyes. She couldn’t tell if this was because she had convinced him or if he was afraid that she would force him into it, anyway. After all, that’s how she had been before.

“Okay… I give up…” Rudy said as he lowered his head in submission. “I-I’ll go with you…”

Penny tilted her head slightly to one side. That felt almost anticlimactic. She would have thought that he’d fight with her more. She shrugged her shoulders. Oh well, she thought. The important thing right now was that he was at least listening to her now. She didn’t say a word as she walked a couple steps further into the cage and made a quick motion with her hand.

In response, Rudy appeared to listen. He got up to his feet and attempted to walk over towards her. He still yelped and cried in agony and he still staggered forward. She still had to catch him to keep him from falling down. But she knew that he would improve in time. He just needed some practice, is all. Not for today. She had promised him that she wouldn’t force it on him. Without a second thought, she used her key to immediately unhook the metal band around his neck, freeing him for the… How many times has it been? She lost count and she didn’t care at this point.

Grabbing onto Rudy’s arm, she started to guide him towards the bed. She had started going a little too fast at first. She realized this when she heard Rudy grunting painfully and heard that his legs weren’t able to keep up too well. She slowed herself down just enough to let him keep up with her more easily. The two headed towards the bed and they sat down on it, Penny helping to lower him onto it.

But instead of immediately laying down in the bed, Penny opted for something a little different. Perhaps this gesture would help him settle down and realize that it’s not going to be the same as before. They continued to sit straight up like they were now and she slung her arm around him, keeping her grip on him. And then she just stayed like this, forcing Rudy to lean against her. She could feel him trembling, but she had little worry. He would grow to enjoy this eventually. He just needed some time.

sss

The following few days had been pretty eventful. Well this was normally the case before, but now it seemed like Penny was busier than ever. Whatever it was that was driving her to do this, she continued to make strides in trying to help Rudy walk again and establish some form of trust with the zoners. Well shaky at best, but it was still better than nothing. It was much more preferable to have weak trust than no trust at all.

And it was having the effect that Craniac had promised.

The number of resistance was starting to go down.

If she had realized about this before, she would have taken advantage of this sooner. The rebellious groups were rapidly losing support. It wasn’t because they trusted her deeply; it just turned out that most of the zoners were nervous about the idea of going up against a creator. And if she wasn’t going to keep lashing out at them anymore, there was no further need to be too hostile. Of course, she was aware that resistance would still be around and these zoners would just find other ways of recruiting members and turning them against her. But there was still hope that their efforts would become weakened.

She was still hoping to get to the point where she could convince more zoners to be loyal to her. She had mostly just Skrawl and Craniac. She couldn’t count the enforcers as they were programmed by Craniac himself. There might be a few other zoners here or there loyal to her, though it was a mere drop in the bucket. She would need to entice more to follow her willingly. As King Skrawl had pointed out, if she made the zoners want to follow her instead of forcing them into it unwillingly, then she could further help squash the remaining resistance.

However, achieving that kind of loyalty would not happen overnight, King Skrawl warned her. If she wanted to reach that goal, she was going to have to be careful and play her cards right. She would need to be patient. A slow build up overtime would eventually reach the point that she wanted. Though that was longer than she would have liked, King Skrawl assured her that the result would be well worth it.

She could only hope that he was right.

Still, regardless of her doubts, she still continued to go along with what Skrawl and Craniac had suggested. She made small steps in repairing some damaged parts of the city, offered some help to zoners willing to take it, and she removed some more control over the city, slowly but surely letting the zoners start to live like how they had before. This was a difficult thing for her to do because her mind was itching to do something to ensure that she could continue to help in her own way. But if she wanted that end result that Skrawl and Craniac had promised, she would have to keep this up, no matter how she felt about it.

In the meantime, she continued to try to help Rudy walk again. She still didn’t know why she was doing this and she still planned on keeping him locked up. But she still went about on helping improve his gait with the help of the brace that removed some of the pressure from his thigh. She was impressed with how much he was improving, though he would never be without a limp and he was still at a high risk of falling down.

Penny realized that she didn’t know what her end goal with Rudy was. Did she want him to be able to walk around entirely on his own or just help him enough that he could move around a little better? Did she want to let him out of his cage? Did she want to at least remove the chains? These and other questions filled her head. She would have to figure them out later.

The one thing that she did decide on is that she was not going to take him into the Real World. She would try to manage his injuries the best that she could and she had done a good job so far, she felt. A Real World doctor did not seem necessary anymore. She just had to make sure she didn’t injure him further, made sure that he took the meds, and apply ice every so often. For the most part, he did seem to be doing better. He hadn’t gotten any worse, she didn’t think, and if she kept this up, he might return to how he was originally before she had attacked him so viciously.

Of course, there was one issue that seemed to be getting a little worse, but she tried not to worry about it too much. He was complaining of increased pain in his chest. She chalked it up to being something pretty minor, perhaps just an area that required a little more healing. Despite what Rudy had told her, she imagined that the pain would lessen eventually. She might just need to get stronger pain medication.

All the while, she hadn’t seen any image of ‘Snap’ lately. No further harsh words accusing her of doing all these shitty things. No more guilt tripping and trying to tell her how much she was at fault for what happened. None of that. But to be honest, she didn’t know how much of this was a good thing or a bad thing. She wasn’t entirely sure if she really wanted to find out.

And considering some of Rudy’s behaviors, she had to wonder if he, too, was seeing things. And if he was, did he hear the same things as she did? Was ‘Snap’ blaming him just as much? She couldn’t be sure and she felt uncertain if she should ask him. She feared that Rudy might use that information to exploit something or… She wasn’t really sure what she was thinking. She just knew that she didn’t want him to know.

But there was something that was bugging her. She hadn’t been able to get a hold of her mother as much lately. That was rather strange, given that her mom had been the one to constantly want to get in contact with her before. Why had this suddenly changed? Ever since that one visit…

Penny didn’t want to think about it too much. Becoming too enthralled and distracted by this may disrupt her ability to carry on with the present day stuff. She didn’t want to worry about her mother too much. She was probably just swamped with work and just didn’t have much time at the moment to speak with her. She could always try again later.

In the meantime, Penny did recall that there was a new meeting that King Skrawl had set up. She wasn’t pleased that he did this without her permission, but he insisted that it was important. She could easily cancel it, but she decided against it. The last public speech did go over….okay, she would suppose. This one might be better, considering that there was a little bit less tension between her and the zoners now. Especially since she freed more and more of her prisoners, including Howdy.

Yeah, she’d go to this public speech, despite her anger towards Skrawl. After all, how bad could it be?

When was the meeting? She recalled that it would be sometime tomorrow around noon. She needed a watch to tell her that, considering that ChalkZone lacks the usual day and night cycles of the Real World. It shouldn’t be too hard to get there in time.

Exactly what would she talk about, anyway? She wasn’t entirely certain. And though there was some concern Skrawl might try something to raise himself above her, to gain more control, she still had something that he could never have.

Control of the magic chalk.

She had nothing to worry about.


	21. A Shattered Truth

“Is everything ready?” Skrawl asked. He folded his arms as he glared over at Craniac, tapping his foot impatiently. “We need to make sure this is all set up and ready for when our ‘dear’ Chalk Queen comes up to make her speech.”

“Affirmative. I just need to make a few adjustments and...” Craniac let out a small cry of surprise as he dropped into the ground with a painful sounding thud. He lifted himself up and rubbed the back of his head. “Well that should be more or less it.”

“Excellent...” Skrawl said as he tapped his fingers together eagerly. He took a few steps forward as he looked up at the machine before him. “And this will be certain to activate on my gesture? You did make the controller for that, right?”

Craniac, back on his feet, moved towards Skrawl quickly on his single wheel ‘foot’. “Of course! All you need to do is press this button.” He held out a small controller for Skrawl to put around his hand. It was the same color as his hand and so would be harder for the Chalk Queen to detect. “After you do so, the large monitor here will come down.”

Skrawl looked up at the hanging monitor that Craniac gestured to. It was hidden behind the stage where the zoners can’t see it. Penny might see it if she looked up, but he had his doubts. She would be too busy worrying about giving a good speech to care to look up. She would be so distracted that she won’t even realize that the monitor was lowering down behind her. That would give all the time in the world to activate it and it would play right from an...interesting part, preventing her from shutting it down before it was too late.

Skrawl smiled at the thought of this all finally coming down. He and Craniac had successfully led Penny into believing their words and getting the zoners to start trusting her again. They could go on for longer, but he didn’t want to wait too long. If they delayed it too much, then the effect might not be too strong. But by doing it now, he could be more assured that the zoners would react accordingly.

His thoughts were interrupted when Craniac came over. “Is there anything else you want me to do?”

Skrawl stared down at him and shook his head. “No, this should do just fine. I applaud you for your work.”

“Why thank you.” Craniac took what looked like a bow, though the actual sincerity behind it could be questioned. “You remember our deal, right?” He motioned towards Skrawl. “About the...”

“Oh sure of course! It’s all figured out! Don’t you worry about a thing, dear Craniac!” Skrawl said, smiling at the red robotic zoner. “Now why don’t you get some rest? We’ve got a big day coming soon. Can’t be late, can you?”

Skrawl watched Craniac leave, a smile crawling across his face.

sss

Well this hadn’t been so bad after all. At least, not to the same degree as he thought it was going to be. Rudy leaned back against the bed and looked around, becoming acutely aware that he hadn’t been placed back in the cage long term in a while. Usually only whenever Penny decided to leave. It was hard to tell just how much of this he should trust and believe, but in the meantime, he was at least….comfortable, he supposed was the right word. Though only to a certain degree.

Rudy had to keep himself tense and keep some sense of his guard up. He wasn’t going to enjoy this for long, he was certain. Sooner or later, Penny was going to revert back to how she had been before. He had his doubts that she could keep up this little charade for long. He knew her well enough to know that this wasn’t the case.

But he had to admit, she was pretty good at keeping up appearances. She hadn’t seemed to waver so far. She was even surprisingly gentle with him, at least as far as she was capable of lately. He thought for sure that he could detect some underlying frustration with him. But if this were true, she did an excellent job at hiding it.

Rudy watched carefully as Penny was moving about in the room, adjusting her clothes. He had looked away earlier for….obvious reasons...and when he turned back, Penny was wearing something a bit more formal than what she had on before. Her outfit was replaced with something more casual, her red scarf removed. He blinked at this and wondered what the occasion was. He hadn’t seen her wear something like this before, except when… Oh right, wasn’t there a meeting she needed to get to?

Rudy kept quiet as he watched Penny carefully. Occasionally, he would look over at the door. It was unoccupied and likely unlocked. If he were to take this chance now, he might be able to get away before she knew it. He just needed to get up quickly and slowly walk over and she would be too enthralled in the mirror to really notice him.

He stopped himself before he did anything. Would that be a safe thing to do? He had attempted to leave before and it resulted in…. He cringed at the memory, pulling his hands towards himself as he tried to fight off the phantom pain. He didn’t have any reason to doubt that Penny wouldn’t react like that again. He would have to be careful. Perhaps another time would be better, but it was too risky right now.

Penny soon appeared to be done. He could see her moving around in front of the mirror, adjusting some parts of the clothing and making other small changes to suit what she wanted. She frowned a few times, silently telling Rudy that she was not fully satisfied with this outcome. But it seemed like it would have to do.

Penny then started to apply a bit of makeup. It wasn’t much. She was never all that heavy with it. Just enough to make herself look a little nicer and more professional. Soon Penny was done and she placed the items back in the dresser. Rudy expected her to leave at this point, but he was surprised when Penny now turned to look over at him.

“What do you think? How do I look?” Penny asked her voice showing no sign of insincerity.

Rudy blinked at her, feeling a sense of shock that she would even ask him that. What was going on here? This wasn’t something she’d done with him before. He felt himself stammering for a response, fearing what might happen if he said the wrong thing. And why did she even want his opinion, anyway? She never acted like she cared about what he said before. So what was going on with…

He decided that it was best to just put his uncertainties aside and just answer her. Not replying might invoke a worst response. And judging from how Penny was looking at him, it didn’t seem like she was willing to give him that much time to respond. Rudy drew in a deep breath and he forced himself to give a response.

“Y-You look...f-f-fine…?” Rudy said, his voice somewhat questioning. He looked at Penny to see if that’s what she wanted to hear. When she didn’t respond, he felt his heart tighten up. Though she didn’t look like she was going to attack, he still felt a sense of urgency. The first thing that came out of his mouth was, “I mean… you’re...pretty…? I-I…”

Penny raised her hand up, which Rudy was happy to oblige to. He couldn’t believe he had just said that, his eyes wide. “I think I get the point.” Penny seemed to be slightly hesitant, perhaps taken aback by Rudy’s comment. But she managed to shrug it off in an almost professional manner. “Anyway, I have a meeting to go to. I need to address some more things with the zoners.”

Rudy swallowed hard. “And how has that been going for you?”

Penny turned to stare at him. Rudy cringed and expected her to say something aggressive. But instead, she remained as calm as she was before. “It’s been going along great. Thank you for asking.” She tilted her head up, giving a small, almost haughty smile. “The zoners seem to like what I’ve been doing. There’s been less hostilities and the rebellions have slowed down. Soon I can have both this world to control and the loyalty of its denizens to prevent an uprising.”

Rudy narrowed his eyes at these words. He dared not to speak, but it still spoke volumes of how far Penny has fallen. If this was truly all that she had to say on the matter, then this was just disgusting. Penny was only doing this to make her rule easier, not because she cared about the zoners. Maybe he was wrong, but Penny would have to prove that to him. So far, she wasn’t doing a very convincing job of it.

Penny seemed to flinch a little and turn her head away. Rudy didn’t know if she was responding to his silent answer or if she had thoughts of her own. Whatever the case may be, her smile had faded completely, giving the impression that even she understood that her reasoning for doing what she was doing was flawed and selfish. Rudy didn’t need to remind her of that.

After a bit of an awkward silence, Penny said, “I will be back in… I want to say an hour or two. I’m going to try to make my speech brief and to the point. No need to carry on for longer than necessary.” Penny took out a set of keys as well as the small bag of magic chalk that she had hidden, along with the bottles of water. It was as if she wanted to make doubly sure that he had nothing that he could use. And she seemed to echo this sentiment in what she said next.

“Just to make sure that you don’t get any ideas…”

Rudy tilted his head to one side. “You’re not going to just lock me up like before?”

Penny shook her head. “No, I feel that’s unnecessary right now.” She gave Rudy a sideways glance. “I would like for you to practice walking while I’m gone, though. It’ll be much easier for you to do that out here, don’t you think? More room and more things to grab in case you fall. Which will be a lot.” She ignored Rudy’s expression as she turned her head away from him. “I’m heading out now. Try not to hurt yourself too much.”

Rudy watched as Penny left, opening the door and shutting it behind her. He could hear the lock and the sound of Penny’s footsteps faded in the background. Soon there was silence and Rudy realized that, for the first time, he was alone outside of the cage. He looked around left and right, and a single question echoed inside of his head.

What was he going to do now?

This would be a good chance for him to get away. If he waited just a few minutes so that Penny was out of the castle, he could use the magic chalk that he still had hidden in him to draw a way out of here. He could make something for himself to help speed things along, like a flying machine or something. There were so many opportunities. His chances of escape were greater now than they had been before. He should take this chance before it slipped away from him.

….but….

Rudy’s movements came to a screeching halt as his thoughts interrupted him before he could even start. They swirled around in his head and kept him in a deadlock, frozen in place.

Would it really be smart for him to head out right now? What would happen if he did that? How much unrest would he cause just by showing up? He understood the need for the truth to get out, but there was the phrase ‘go made from the revelation’. How much damage would he cause to the zoners mentally if he just showed up out of nowhere, alive? Would they be relieved or horrified? What seemed like a simple good act might end up being more harmful than he realized.

Rudy kept himself on the bed, glaring out into nothingness. He could feel his teeth grinding against each other as he struggled to take in breath after breath. This was going to be harder than he thought.

sss

Penny drew in a deep breath and sighed, trying her best to keep her cool. She told herself over and over again that it was going to be fine. The meeting would go over well and then she could return back to Rudy. Things were going to be just…

But was it a good idea to give Rudy that much freedom? She had never given him permission to roam around the entire room while she was gone. What if he…. No, that was nonsense. Rudy had nothing to escape with. She had her keys, the magic chalk pieces, and the water she usually gave him. There was nothing for Rudy to use for his escape. He was trapped in that room with little more to do than what she had told him to do, and that was practice his walking. She had nothing to worry about with him.

But the feeling still lingered inside of her mind, twirling around in the back of her thoughts. She knew the idea was stupid, but it wouldn’t leave her alone. She wished that she had remembered to make a camera for her to use to watch him. But it was too late now as she was on her way to the meeting in ChalkZone City. There was no reason for her to head back now. The zoners would get a bad impression of her if she were too late. If she wanted their loyalty, punctuality was a big thing, Skrawl had mentioned.

She did feel a little strange with listening to what Skrawl was telling her to do, the suggestions that he was making. But they were so far working and she felt it was worth the risk. He was only building her up. If he tried to do anything to tear her down again, she could just use his advice against him and send the zoners to get him. She hoped that it wouldn’t come to that, but only time would tell.

Penny soon arrived in ChalkZone City, taking the main road down towards the center of the city. It was easy to see the stage that was set up for her, even from this far and with the buildings in the way. It was a bit elaborate, but it would do just fine. And judging from the clamoring of zoners, she knew that the seats were already filled. Not wanting to let the zoners wait too much longer, she immediately sped things up and moved towards the stage as quickly as possible.

She tried to ignore some of the stares that she got. She knew that not all the zoners were trusting of her, either still hating her or just not being sure about her. Most of the other zoners were clearly curious about what she was going to talk about. She hoped that, in time, these zoners would make up even more of the population of ChalkZone. That would help things run so much more smoothly.

It was pretty awkward to see Howdy here. The zoner had recovered from her treatment of him, and he was amongst the zoners that didn’t trust him. She tried not to look at him when she walked by, but it was difficult to fully ignore the tense atmosphere that his glare created. She couldn’t help but look down at him, slowing her pace as she went by. Their eyes locked onto each other and time seemed to slow down to a crawl. Penny could feel Howdy staring right into her soul. She swallowed hard before forcing herself to continue.

The zoners had stopped their chattering as they turned to watch her get up onto the platform. They moved in unison in a way that almost freaked Penny out. She did her best to ignore this as she continued to get up into position. She got up onto the stage and then…

“Ah there you are!” Skrawl moved towards her, seemingly having come out of nowhere. Penny was startled by his sudden presence and glared softly at him. Skrawl noticed this and stopped himself. “I hadn’t meant to startle you. Anyway, we’ve been waiting for you. This is such an important announcement and….”

“Are you trying to butter me up?” Penny raised an eyebrow.

“What? No, of course not!” Skrawl waved his hands from side to side. He motioned towards Craniac. “We just wanted to make sure things went well. That’s all!”

“Uh huh…” Penny nodded her head slowly. She bit her lip and wondered what she should feel regarding this comment. Should she be suspicious or just frustrated? No matter, she would have time to worry about that later. She turned her head to stare over at the audience of zoners. “How long have they been waiting?”

“Half an hour, I think.” Skrawl commented. “A few were getting restless. I had to appease them to calm them down.”

“Well I thank you for the help.” Penny stated. She was about to continue when Skrawl raised his claw up. “What is it?”

“I just wanted to wish you luck out there. You’ve been doing a good job. Let’s hope you can keep it up.” Said Skrawl.

Penny simply stared at him. “Indeed…”

Skrawl stood there for a few seconds, his arms folding behind his back. He gave a few small chuckles, as though nervous about something. Penny instinctively looked from side to side to see if the zoner was actually hiding something from her. So far, she didn’t see anything. It was probably just Skrawl being his weird little self again. Ugh, she didn’t have time for this, anyway.

Penny started to make her way out towards the stadium. The zoners were staring even more intently now. A few of them were even becoming a little noisier, as though hurrying her along. She tried to ignore this and just climbed up at the speed that she wanted. The zoners would get the information that she was about to tell them. They were just going to have to be patient.

Once she was up there, she stood in front of the podium, clearing her throat and adjusting her shirt to try to look more professional. She looked behind her for a second to see Skrawl motioning her to start speaking. She turned her attention back to the zoners before her. She bit her lip as she stared at the mixture of glares and confused looks. For a brief moment, she felt a bit unsure about continuing. But she soon managed to force the words to start flowing out of her mouth.

“I have called you all here today to discuss….”

And thus began her speech.

sss

Skrawl’s smile faded away was the Chalk Queen started her speech. He felt his teeth grinding together, feeling a burning sensation in his stomach. He now could understand why Craniac was at times in a hurry, impatient. That’s what he was feeling right now. He knew that he and Craniac should not act just yet. But the minutes that ticked by felt like they were crawling and he just….

He turned his head at the sound of a singular wheel rolling towards him. “Is the trap ready now?”

“Yes, but we shouldn’t strike yet.” Craniac said. “Let the queen speak more on her little speech. Let her work up the zoners a little. And then..” He made a quick motion downward. “..we unleash the trap.”

“I just hope that I have enough patience for this.” Skrawl rolled his eyes as he continued to hear Penny delivering her speech. Each word was making him feel a little sick inside. It should be him giving those speeches. It should be him that the zoners were going to listen to.

But at least that was all about to change soon. Starting today, the line of authority was going to shift. The Chalk Queen didn’t realize it yet, but she had walked right into a trap. In a matter of moments, before she had a chance to leave, the zoner were going to learn what she has been up to. She was going to face the wrath of countless zoners. They would swarm her, fueled with rage, and tear into her.

Oh what a glorious sight it would be….and he would then come in to the rescue. He would show her and the zoners that he was a far more capable leader. And once she managed to get the crown from her, so to speak, he could begin to make changes to the system. Changes that he felt were going to be better, especially since they were going to benefit him.

Skrawl lifted his head back up to watch Penny. He suddenly could tolerate that lousy speech of hers. He was going to get what he wanted soon enough. So he could afford to try to be more patient. He folded his arms to his chest and just stared out ahead, his mouth corners rising up as he sneered. Penny nor the zoners could see his face. None of them realized what was about to happen. Oh how shocked they were going to be when it all came crashing down.

Skrawl turned his attention to Craniac once more. The crimson-colored robot was moving in a little closer. He looked up at the monitor that was in place. It was sandwiched between the two curtains that Penny stood in front of. Skrawl recalled that in order to do this smoothly, they needed to move both the curtains and the monitor. Craniac would handle the curtains and Skrawl himself would lower the monitor. They would have to do it carefully as the Chalk Queen could easily stop them if she happened to hear what was going on.

After a few minutes passed, Skrawl could see Craniac making his gesture to finally begin. Skrawl smirked darkly at this. He could feel himself feeling giddy inside as the plan was finally coming into fruition. He felt excitement rising up inside of him as he thought of just how brilliant this plan was. He rubbed his hands together in an excited fashion and he made his way over. He grabbed onto the rope that controlled the monitor. Then with Craniac’s nod, he started to lower the massive thing downward while the robot raised the curtains.

The movements were quick yet quiet. Gradually, the two zoners worked together to get the monitor exposed before the audience, with Penny being none the wiser. It was hard to tell if any of the zoners could actually see what was going on. Perhaps they were too focused with Penny’s speech to really notice what was going on.

Well good, Skrawl thought. That would make it much easier for him and Craniac to get this all set up before it was too late. They would need to act fast in order to turn the monitor on. But so long as they timed it perfectly, they were going to be able to play the footage needed. Penny would not be able to stop them and then she would get her just desserts.

Soon the monitor was on the ground, the curtains up. Skrawl made his move to act, but was interrupted.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!”

Skrawl and Craniac both jumped at this sudden shout. They turned their heads in time to see the Chalk Queen strolling towards them. Her hands were clenched into tight fists and her teeth were gritted tightly against each other. The look of disdain and annoyance were both strong and it was enough to make Craniac and Skrawl opt to move back a little further.

“I’ve almost finished up my speech out there. The zoners have a few more questions and then I would like to leave. But then I hear some racket going on here and…” The Chalk Queen stopped as she turned to the monitor. She blinked once before turning to glare at Skrawl, her teeth becoming bared. “Just what the fuck is this?!” She pointed her finger at the monitor. “What kind of trick are you attempting to pull?”

Skrawl raised his hands up into the air, making quick motions to try to get the woman to settle down. “N-Nothing! Craniac and I were just making some adjustments and…” He turned his head to look for support from Craniac. But instead, there was just empty space. “Craniac…” He growled under his breath.

The Chalk Queen put her face close to Skrawl’s. The jellybean zoner gritted his teeth and tried to move his head back, seething softly. Penny glared at him like this for several moments before she hissed softly, “I hope you better have a good reason for all of this. Don’t bother trying to lie to me. I will know..”

Skrawl swallowed hard at this as his mind spun. What was he going to do now? Craniac had abandoned him, the little traitor, and Penny here had a hold of him. He couldn’t make a move to turn the monitor on. Penny would see it and stop him before he could get that far. And now the zoners, at least some of them, could see him here having a squabble with the queen. They might be onto him and realize that he was trying to pull some shit. There was less of a chance of him succeeding in what he wanted to do now.

Skrawl gritted his teeth tightly, seething through them. His head hurt as it pounded with many thoughts. Anger and frustration riddled inside of his stomach. There was nothing that he could do now. He had missed his chance to deal the damaging blow to Penny. He doubted that he would have this kind of chance ever again.

He had little choice at this point. He would have to do something that would disgust him, yet it was the only way to maybe, possibly, insure his safety. It might not work, but he had to try. He lowered his head in submission and he spoke in a defeated tone. “I’m sorry, I didn’t...”

Suddenly there was a loud sound and a rumble in the ground. Both he and Penny turned.

The monitor had started to play.

sss

A wave of horror washed over Penny’s face as she saw the images that played on the screen. There was no secret in what was going on. She didn’t know just how this was possible. She kept asking herself that over and over again. But it didn’t seem like it mattered. She just knew that it happened and regardless of the methodology, she was too late to stop it.

She slowly turned her head to the crowd of zoners. She kept the same shocked expression as before. Her body tensed up a little more as she went to see just how the zoners were looking at her. She could see a series of glares aimed right at her, and this continued to grow as the zoners realized what was going on in the video being displayed. She licked her lips slowly and bit them firmly. Even though only a small handful of zoners were glaring at her, this would continue to grow until it was all of them.

She had to do something and fast.

Penny looked up at the large monitor, flinching as she saw it showing a series of clips of her attacking Rudy. She formed a tight fist with her hand, trembling, realizing that Skrawl and Craniac must have had this planned the entire time. She didn’t know how Skrawl could have gotten involved in this as she had erased his memory....unless...

She shook the thought out of her head for now. That didn’t matter at this point. She would figure out later how this happened. Right now, she needed to focus on figuring out how to stop this before things could get any worse.

Penny quickly took out a piece of magic chalk. Sweat forming on her hand made it a little difficult to hold properly. It was as though the events going on in the video were making it hard for her to concentrate. And indeed, they were. She could hear Rudy’s screams and pleas for her to stop. She could see, in the corner of her eyes, quick motions that she knew were her striking Rudy. She could feel her heart racing the longer that this remained on screen and she had to work quickly. Yet this attempt to try to draw fast only resulted in her losing here grip on the chalk, which caused it to fall down to the ground and roll at where she had knocked Skrawl.

When she attempted to go over towards the chalk, Skrawl made a quick motion and stepped on it. Penny froze and stared at his foot covering the chalk before looking up at her. Skrawl stared down at her and sneered with that hideous yellow-toothed grin of his.

“Not so fast, my queen.” Skrawl motioned his hand towards the monitor. “Why don’t we enjoy the show?”

The woman curled her lip up into a snarl before she gave a few small chuckles. It would seem that Skrawl really didn’t think this whole thing through. Did he honestly thing that covering one piece of chalk was going to stop her? It was a good thing that she had remembered to grab onto the bag of chalk from before. That made this a whole lot easier.

Penny took out another piece of chalk. She gave the shocked Skrawl a smirk of her own. She didn’t bother wasting her time gloating about it, however. Instead, she focused on stopping that blasted monitor from playing the entire clip. There was little time to think, so she quickly drew the first thing that came to her mind. When she held the atom destroyer in her hand, she pointed it at the monitor. She put her finger on the trigger and she started to pull.

But it was already too late.

Her eyes widened in horror when she saw that the monitor had gone black. That wasn’t what shocked her the most, however. True to what she had expected from Skrawl and Craniac, the clip had ended with a black fade after a pretty crucial moment in the clip.

When she had knocked Rudy into unconsciousness.

Penny stood there, frozen in place, unable to move or speak. She took in some slow, steady breaths, fighting desperately to avoid hyperventilating. She refused to look at the zoners at first as her mind filled up with many thoughts on what this was going to mean now. She felt as though her head was heavy and rock solid, like someone had filled it up with cement. She turned her head to the ground, her eyes remaining wide, and she stayed like this as she thought about her predicament.

There was no doubt in her minds that the zoners weren’t going to react well to this. Not only were they being shown that Rudy had been alive for far longer than she bragged about, but now they were being led into thinking that she killed him after forcing him to live as a prisoner for years. While it was disheartening to them to believe that she killed him suddenly, she imagined that they were going to be even more pissed off if they thought she purposely delayed it. After all, there was a clear difference between killing someone quickly and prolonging it unnecessarily.

And it didn’t help that the video showed that Rudy was an adult like her, showing the zoners once and for all that she had been ‘slow and methodical’ with this killing, much more so than what was needed. At least, that’s what they were going to believe.

It was only after this realization that Penny swallowed hard and forced herself to look at the zoners that crowded around here. By this point, many more zoners were glaring at her, which she wasn’t surprised about. There were still a good number who didn’t have a frown, which surprised her. She wondered momentarily what was going on inside of their heads. Were they shocked or confused? Were they actually angry and were just hiding their actual feelings from her?

Regardless, Penny realized that she did have to try to remedy the situation somehow. Though at this point, she doubted there was much that she could do. From the looks in their eyes, it was clear that they already had their minds made up. The video looked and sounded too real and she little reason to think that any of the zoners would believe that it was faked.

But she still had to try.

“Disregard what you just witnessed here. It’s nothing more than a smoke and mirrors attempt by my ‘partner’ here to dissuade you and impose political discourse.” Penny spoke up. She tried to sound as fearless and professional as she could. “I do apologize for this horrendous inconvenience. You should all just head on home now. There is nothing more to discuss here.”

Maybe not the best choice of words, but it was all that she could think of to say. A part of her hoped that this would be enough to convince at least some of the zoners to get up and walk away.

It wasn’t.

“Do you really think we’re supposed to believe that?!”

Penny lifted her head up to see that the person who spoke was Bobby Sue. Penny was surprised by how loud that she was, considering how far away she was from the podium.

Bobby Sue was standing up on her chair. Some zoners were looking at her in surprise or understanding, even nodding in agreement, as Bobby Sue pointed an accusatory finger in Penny’s direction. “Considering what you’ve done in the past, this would not come as a surprise to any of us! We already knew that you killed Rudy, but we had no idea that you had taken your time with it!”

Penny flinched as she heard the hatred laced in that zoner’s voice. Although Bobby Sue had complicated feelings towards Rudy, it was clear that she was still disgusted by the prospect of him getting tortured for years. It would seem that, no matter how angry she was at him, she never would have wanted something like that to happen to him.

Howdy was the next one who spoke up, his small body somehow creating a surprisingly loud voice. “You took your time bending me like I was some kind toy to you! It isn’t out of your realm to do the same to Rudy Tabootie!”

“Yeah, he’s right!”

“How could you have done that?!”

“You’re worse than we thought!”

Penny immediately took a few steps away from the podium, her wide eyes looking left and right as she saw the fruits of her work falling apart rapidly. Even though there wasn’t much she had accomplished anyway, it was still horrifying how fast a lot of it was going down the drain.

But one thing didn’t make sense at first. Her progress was made possible by Skrawl and Craniac. They gave her the ideas that helped her come up this far. Why would they do that at all? What was the point of all of that? She tried to wrap her mind around it. Surely, there had to be a reason for all of that.

Then she stiffened, gasping in horror inwardly, quietly. She realized one possible explanation, and if it were true, it chilled her to the bone.

What if they did it like this....

...so that the zoners would be more empowered with a ‘fresh wave’ of hurt and betrayal..?

It made total sense the more that she thought about it. Building the zoners’ trust up a little. Have her do somethings to help them out. Have her going as far as pulling back some of her control. Then once the zoners were at the point of almost trusting her again, crush it with the devastating blow of finding out that she had Rudy as a prisoner this entire time. The zoners’ emotions would get the better of them and they would be more hostile, more likely to...

Her thoughts were interrupted when she could hear Skrawl chuckling behind her. She swerved her head to glare at him, seeing how he darkly smiled at her.

“You...” Penny snarled at him.

“I don’t think it’s me you should be attending to, my queen.” Skrawl spoke with a heavy drip of sarcasm. He pointed his claw slowly forward. “They on the other hand...”

Penny turned to stare at the zoners coming at her. They were already starting to climb onto the stadium to get at her. Penny backed up quickly, raising her hands up in self defense. She struggled to think of something that she could say, but it was clear that, at this point, the zoners just weren’t going to listen.

Especially not to her...

Penny had to react fast when the zoners started to grab onto her. They held on tightly, digging their nails and claws into her and trying to pull her down. Penny struggled and managed to wriggle free. She moved back from the zoners. Though most were smaller than her, there were still a good number of sizeable zoners that would prove to be more than a match for her. She had to get out of here now.

She started to run along the side of the podium, hoping to reach it before the zoners could come over. The easier path of going through where Skrawl was couldn’t be an option, as Skrawl himself would just slow her down. And attacking him would only incite further discord amongst the zoners present. She stared intently at the one opening that might let her get out without a fight. She narrowed her eyes in determination and she rushed over towards it.

The zoners were faster than she had anticipated, however. A few of them were rather light on their feet and they were already outpacing her. She could see the long strides that they were making and she realized that by the time she would arrive in that spot, it was going to be too late for her. The zoners would be caught up and they would take her down, and Skrawl and Craniac were going to watch and laugh. She actually didn’t know where Craniac was at the moment but she didn’t bother worrying about it too much. She instead focused on the zoners before her and figuring out another way out of here.

When she came up to the edge, she twisted her body in a jump to the side, barely managing to escape the grasp of the fast zoners. When her feet went towards the ground, she twisted her ankles a little as she plunged towards the ground. She stumbled a little and she had to scramble quickly to avoid falling down completely. Then she quickly pumped her legs to move fast again, running down the street with the horde of zoners behind her.

There was no time to use the magic chalk at this point, and while she had the atom destroyer, she wanted to avoid using it if possible. That meant that the only way that she could get out of this was if she somehow found a place where she could be alone long enough to draw something to help her out. How would she manage to do that with the zoners hot on her tail? The only way to find out was to just keep trying. She was able to keep in front of them for the time being. So if she could just keep up this pace, maybe she could just....

Penny’s eyes widened in pain when she felt something ramming into her. She fell into the ground and she landed in a loud thud. She then felt whatever hit her literally jumping off of her and taking a stand off to the side. Penny looked to see that the attacker had been Howdy. Her eyes registered the horrific realization that Howdy was faster than he had looked.

Looking back, she could see that the zoners were getting in closer and thanks to Howdy, she had no chance of getting up without being attacked. There was only one option for her to do. But she still felt resistance in doing it. This caused her to delay herself enough that the faster zoners had already caught up with her. Penny immediately felt her body erupting in pain as the zoners started to attack her.

“Aaaaah!” Penny screeched in pain, kicking and squirming about in the sea of zoners coming at her.

The zoners were snarling at her, not even speaking at this point. It was like they had been reduced to a bunch of wild animals. This wasn’t even the entire crowd, but she still felt the sheer weight of it all crashing around her as the zoners continued to swarm her. She felt herself getting raked up and struck down. Although small, together the zoners were packing quite the whallop. Attacks that would have been a bit minor at worst were easily building up, creating some small gashes and large bruises.

Penny struck out against them. She kicked a few of them hard, making them fly backwards. She punched a few and she was certain she had knocked out a few teeth. She grabbed the hair and scalp of one zoner and threw them into another like a living weapon. She rammed herself through some of the zoners. The ones that were knocked onto their back, she stomped on their stomachs once or twice in order to incapacitate them. Penny then turned and started to run forward. She somehow managed to get out of the crowd of attacking zoners....

...only to run into a smaller group joining this one. One of the zoners, an anthro lion, was in the lead. Penny skidded her feet to a stop when this lion zoner charged at her. He jumped right towards her with his paws outstretched and his claws poking out of the digits’ tips. She could see his mouth stretching open to bite into her and she immediately bent her knees in response, preparing to jump.

That was when she saw a flash of green before her eyes. The lion zoner let out a screech as he was struck by something with claws. Blood oozed out of the gashes upon his face as he toppled to the ground. The move was so sudden and out of nowhere that the zoners around her stopped, startled by this move.

“Need any help, Chalk Queen?”

Penny whipped her head and glared at Skrawl, who stood at her side now, holding out his hand. He was smiling at her, his eyes attempting to show some pretend concern for her. Penny snarled at this, realizing that Skrawl must think that she was some kind of an idiot. She wasn’t going to fall for his little tricks any longer.

Penny immediately struck at Skrawl, knocking his hand away. “Get the fuck out of here...” She hissed under her breath. “Y-You’re not the k-king of anything...”

Skrawl stared at her for a few seconds before he narrowed his mismatched eyes. The jellybean zoner started to chuckle darkly, licking his lips slowly. He didn’t seem particularly angry at this. In fact, much to Penny’s horror, he almost looked..satisfied. “Have it your way, then.”

Penny wasn’t able to respond to this when Skrawl suddenly lashed out at her. He grabbed onto her damaged arm and immediately squeezed it roughly. Tears burned behind Penny’s eyes, oozing downward like a waterfall, as pain seared through the entire length of her arm. The whole sensation was crippling as she dropped onto her knees. She could barely move, fearful that doing so might cause her more pain. She looked up at Skrawl, fear plastering over her eyes.

Skrawl chortled at this. “I gave you a chance and you declined. Don’t be surprised by the results.” Skrawl lifted his head up and he waved to the zoners. “What are you waiting for? Don’t you remember what she did to your precious Great Creator? Even I did not know about this heinous deed and I was not involved with the killing nor did I tell her to do that. It was all on her!”

Penny let out a yelp when Skrawl twisted and tightened his grip further. She could feel his claws pressing up against her flesh, and the pain was so bad, it was shooting a chilling sensation throughout her skin and bone.

“Now is your chance to get back at her for what she’s done! Empower yourselves! Do the one thing that you never could before! Make her accountable for her actions!”

Penny felt Skrawl lifting her up from the ground. She attempted to struggle, but it didn’t matter how much she twisted and jerked herself about. She was not going anywhere. Her body soon fell a little limp while hanging up here, her feet dangling, pain freezing her in place. She gritted her teeth as she gave Skrawl another fearful look. He just smirked at her before throwing her against the ground, making her skid to a stop in front of the crowd of zoners.

Penny lifted her head up and she stared open mouthed and wide eyed as the zoners started to move in closer to her, beginning to surround her. She looked at them with the same sense of fear that she gave Skrawl. In pain and injured and outnumbered with zoners very close to her, she had little chance of defending herself before she would get attacked again. And judging from the looks in their eyes, they were not only going to be merciless with her, but they might end up...going all the way.

Adrenaline started to pump through her body, causing her mind to spin and buzz with thoughts. As she rapidly breathed, she looked around, trying to think of a way out of this mess. Then she looked at the atom destroyer that she still had in her possession. As she stared at it, she could hear some of the zoners running at her to try to finish her off. Reacting upon instinct, Penny whipped out the atom destroyer and aimed it right at the zoners coming in for the kill. Trembling, Penny pulled the trigger.


	22. Eroded Into The Surface

“Aaaaahhh...!”

Rudy felt his whole body freeze, stopping himself from taking a step forward. He immediately regretted the decision to try to sneak away. He thought he was going to see Penny rushing at him at any moment and he cringed, waiting for the inevitable impact against him. When nothing happened, he looked around, confused, but no less scared.

In the distance, he saw a very faint glow that was just starting to dissipate. It was then that he realized that the scream that he heard came from that direction. He remained there he stood, leaning against the cane that he drew for himself to help with the walking, unable to look away. He felt his mouth dropping as thoughts crawled in the back of his mind. He slowly came to realize just what that glow and that scream both indicated.

Something had happened in ChalkZone City.

The male human struggled to think of just how he should respond to this. Should he try heading back? Should he head forward? He realized just how poorly he had thought this through. He hadn’t considered what he might do if something had come up.

And now before him, something was happening. He had little way of doing much himself without creating such a big to do. How should he go about revealing to the zoners that he was still alive? Should he even try that? Would it put the zoners in such a state of shock that they might end up dying? What if Penny was there? What would she do if she saw him?

Rudy didn’t want to just stand here and do nothing. But he was at a loss of what to do. He could feel those old questions rising up inside of him, leaving him little wiggle room in terms of what to do. The thought terrified him and he struggled to think of what to do.

And that’s when he heard the second scream.

“Aaaargh!”

Rudy felt chills moving up and down his spine, licking his lips slowly. Horrific images plastered throughout his head as he tried to make sense of what was going on. He had no idea if Penny was involved, if a new villain had tried to attack, or if it was something else. All that he knew for sure is that some zoners sounded like they were in great distress, and it was tingling with his old feelings of wanting to protect. But this conflicted with his fears of what might happen, the risks involved, and he was no longer certain what he wanted to do.

Slowly, Rudy could feel himself starting to take a few steps back, his body shaking, his mind swirling with fears of Penny seeing him out here. He was starting to regret even more so now than ever before how he had left the castle. He should have realized that this was too big of a risk. It had been fifteen years. He couldn’t even remember the layout of ChalkZone anymore. He didn’t know where he could draw a portal nor did he remember one hundred percent how to find one. He was fighting a losing battle and....

...wait, didn’t Penny have a chalkboard in the castle? Couldn’t he have just used that? Sure she had hidden it previously, but he could have found it and used it, right? Rudy slapped himself in the face for this stupidity.

Or at least, he would have, if the distant commotion hadn’t still garnered his attention. He sucked his lip try as he stared out intently at the city. Though he could no longer fully recognize where this section was, he was at least aware enough that it looked to be on the main street of ChalkZone City. The commotion might be dying down now, but the screams still clung to his chest, making his breathing shaky.

Rudy then froze when he heard another set of sounds behind him. These were much closer, much more obvious to be within several feet of him, if not a few yards. He didn’t dare look back, even as he heard heavy breathing and the sound of the ground trembling beneath his feet. He stared out ahead at nothingness and he could barely keep his own breathing stable. A shadow crawled over his body and he was cast in darkness.

Rudy then felt hot breath hitting him against the back of his neck. He attempted to turn around quickly. Doing so destabilized him, causing his cane to slip and he fell into the ground. He let out a cry of pain as he bent his bad leg at an odd angle and he clutched at it, seething tightly. He looked up at his would-be attacker with wide, pleading eyes.

To his horror, he realized that it was Courtney. The sight of her caused his mind to flash back to when he had first seen Penny donned as the Chalk Queen. The massive bird of doom that perched over her thrown like an imposing menace, the same creature that had brought him and Snap to that place... Rudy shook his head to try to rid himself of those thoughts. Then he attempted to get back up to his feet to run backwards.

Courtney, however, didn’t seem content on letting him just walk away like that. She moved in closer to him, her folded wings which made her look like a large dagger now seperating, giving her a more hooded, looking appearance. She lowered her head, her eyes narrowed deeply, her sharp beak opening as she got closer. Rudy felt tears forming in his eyes, cursing at himself for trying to escape without thinking about what he’d do. As Courtney was within striking distance, Rudy turned his head and shut his eyes, unable to do much more than wait.

He could feel something brushing up against him. His hairs stood on end and he jerked, letting out a small yelp. He waited for the searing pain to strike through his body, only to detect nothing of the sort. He forced his head to turn and he could see that Courtney had pushed her head against him, gently nudging him.

Confused, Rudy started again to try to climb up to his feet. To his surprise, Courtney assisted a little, providing him with a place to lean against while he got up. Rudy was soon standing up once again. He scrambled to get back, forgetting his cane where Courtney was. He slid on the ground and hit against it once more. He could hear Courtney letting out a startled squawk and coming at him again. Her beak nibbled at him as she exambined him, as if trying to make sure that he was okay.

Rudy could feel a swell of mixed emotions moving through his body as Courtney was this close to him, being unusually gentle. Thoughts crowded through his mind, buzzing aloud and making his head ache. Wasn’t Courtney designed to be Penny’s attack animal? Why wasn’t she trying to hurt him?

The fact that Courtney was being nice with him did little to calm his nerves. For all he knew, this was just a set up, her calming him until she struck. He had a hard time believing that Courtney was being genuine with her actions. He might not know just how smart Penny had made her, but considering that it was still Penny who drew her...

And that’s when his thoughts froze for a moment. Wasn’t Courtney created when Penny was still planning the whole Chalk Queen thing to be a ruse? If that were the case, then why would Penny have given Courtney a vicious personality? Was it possible that the Courtney he had thought existed never did, and that deep down, the giant bird had been given a far more gentle personality?

That just might explain why she was treating him nicely. Penny did not create her to actually hurt him.

Rudy’s thoughts were interrupted when he heard the sound of something new approaching. He recognized the sound as something close to a single wheel. It took him a few moments to recall one particular zoner who had a single wheel for a mode of locomotion. He staggered back and gritted his teeth when he could see Craniac emerging from the nearby foliage.

The crimson-colored robot immediately froze when he set his eyes on Rudy. He remained there for several long seconds, doing and saying nothing. Rudy had no idea what Craniac had come here for to begin with, but judging from his expression, it had nothing to do with him. Rudy was too late in hiding; now Craniac knew that he was still alive.

Craniac shook his head and he motioned his claw hand towards him. “I wasn’t expecting to see you, Rudy Tabootie. But this just made things a lot easier.”

Rudy bared his teeth, trying to keep himself calm despite the situation that he was in. He didn’t know what to expect out of Craniac, what he wanted to do. He couldn’t even bear to speak any words as the crimson robot made his way a little closer to him.

“Are you enjoying the show, Rudy Tabootie?” Craniac’s robotic voice sounded surprisingly jovial and excited as he motioned towards ChalkZone City. “Skrawl and I set things up so that the Chalk Queen can be brought down a peg or to. Aren’t you happy about that? We’ve been made aware of how she treated you.”

Rudy felt his skin crawl at this comment. He still didn’t know all that was going on, but the mere fact that Craniac and Skrawl were involved gave him little reason to think that it was anything good. He could also feel his mind being ripped up by conflicting emotions. On the one hand, he did agree that Penny had gone too far in her role as Chalk Queen. But on the other hand, he couldn’t help but feel horrified that a couple of zoners, the same ones responsible for Robot Rudy, were trying to tear her down.

Would a chalk world run by Skrawl and Craniac be much better? Something told him that Vinnie’s amusement park would be less horrifying than what Skrawl and Craniac could come up with.

Craniac noticed Rudy’s behavior and rubbed the side of his head. “I see you are not satisfied. Why ever not? Wasn’t the Chalk Queen treating you horribly? Or have you come to...like that kind of attention from her?”

Rudy immediately shook at this and growled. How could Craniac think that he honestly liked how Penny treated him? He would have said something, but the mere suggestion was so ridiculous, he didn’t feel that it warranted a response.

Craniac took his silence as further evidence of liking the treatment. “You’re quite a masochist, aren’t you?” Rudy nearly choked at that statement. Craniac leaned himself back and began to tap the side of his clear glass head. “You know, Skrawl did want me to revitalize Robot Rudy.”

“Wh-What...?!” Rudy managed to say, his throat dry and clenching. “Wh-Why?”

Craniac shrugged his shoulders. “Something about how we could convince the zoners that Penny killed you and start a stronger riot against her.”

Rudy was silent as he stared at Craniac in horror. Even in spite of what Penny had done to him, a part of Rudy still felt uncomfortable with the idea of Penny being torn up by a bunch of zoners. Especially when they were being fooled and led by a couple of villains like Skrawl and Craniac. This was nothing more than an attempt of them obtaining power.

Craniac had a thoughtful look on his face. “Of course, you happen to be right here... and you’re weakened... Hmm....” He gave pause for a moment, his LED eyes furrowed with thoughtfulness. “Maybe it’d just be easier to take you out directly.”

Rudy immediately tensed up at this, watching the zoner carefully. He prepared himself for whatever Craniac had in store for him. He could feel his body trembling and his mind racing. For the first time, he wished that Penny was present.

Craniac was already approaching him. “Now, now, don’t be like that. Think of it as a way to get to freedom. Would you rather die now or suffer for longer? Now really, I would think you’d know what the answer is. You fleshbags are always so weak.”

Rudy was about to say something or at least try to do take action when, without warning, Courtney launched herself forward and charged at the robotic zoner. She spread her wings out and let out a loud honking sound. This was enough to cause Craniac to move backwards, attempting to get out of the way of the large, angry bird zoner.

But this apparently wasn’t enough to completely deter him. Craniac did back away, but he remained positioned where he was. He gained a look of determination on his glass dome face, and he held out his arms and hands at his sides. He snapped his hands open and shut a few times as he examined Courtney, looking for an area of weakness.

“So you’re going to force me to do this the hard way? Well it wouldn’t be classic Rudy shenanigans without that, right?” Craniac spoke in a darkened, slightly glitchy voice. Rudy had never heard this kind of tone from Craniac before. “I’m not going to let this chance slip by me yet. If you force my hand...”

Courtney snapped her beak at Craniac, barely missing. This prompted Craniac to reach out and grab onto the condor’s head by her neck. She squawked loudly and raised her head up, shaking him back and forth. Rudy scrambled to get away as the two zoners started to fight one another.

sss

Her mind was filled with utter horror as she looked at the decimation all around her. She could feel her eyes slowly scanning the destruction, her mouth drying up. She had a hard time believing that this was something that she herself had done. She looked down at her trembling hands, feeling her eyes getting so wide that she thought they were going to roll out of their sockets. Burning tears stained her cheeks red as she tried to shake her head in denial. This couldn’t possibly be something that she had done. It must be some sort of mistake.

But the evidence was there all around her. She could see everything around her quite clearly and she could feel just how tense the air was. She could see the zoners....what was left of them....staring at her in utter horror, fear plastering over their faces. None of them were trying to come near her now. Most of them were in the process of retreating.

On the ground, Penny could see the bodies that were just... She couldn’t even tell if they were bodies any longer. They had been broken apart, turned into ashy piles of dark blackness. There were some dark blotches that looked to be blood stains. The zoners struck from further back still had some parts of them remaining, and she could make out their frozen faces, forever etched in pain and agony. A few of them were contorted and their mouths wide open in an eternal scream.

Penny didn’t know which outcome was worse.

Her mind swam with thoughts as she slowly processed what happened. She swallowed hard and she tried to back away. Her breathing became quickened and she could feel herself giving a small whimper.

This isn’t what she wanted to happen. Oh gawd, she never wanted this to happen...

“So you’re finally showing your true colors...”

Penny turned her wide-eyed face to the side as she saw ‘Snap’ standing there, his arms folded to his chest. He sneered at her with a look of contempt. She didn’t attempt to answer, her voice faded into nothing but loud breathing.

‘Snap’ pointed his rounded hand at her, snarling, “You tried to put on a show before. Acting like you could do some good to free your guilty conscience. But it was not a genuine effort, was it, Buckette? Deep down, you couldn’t hide from how you really are. You could never tame the monster that you have become.”

Penny shook her head shakingly. “I-I never meant to....”

“You’ve said that before and it means squat!” Snapped the blue apparition. “You keep saying that, but your actions speak otherwise. Why the fuck should anyone believe you?”

Penny turned her head away, striking at her head as she tried to force the vision of her friend to go away. But she realized that he wouldn’t and he would continue staring at her accusingly....because that’s how she was feeling right now. She thought she had been doing some good, but had she really only been pretending? Was she only doing it to benefit herself?

Penny let this thought sink in for a few moments. Then she looked around her, seeing the zoners still present looking at her in utter horror. It was more fear from them than she had ever seen before. She had never killed so many zoners in a single blow before, and she wasn’t used to this level of being feared. And as she watched some of the zoners with more mild injuries limping away, she made the startling realization.

She was liking this.

A little too much.

She couldn’t fight against the smile that began to spread along her face, twisting her muscles and skin, her nose wrinkling. She looked down at her hands once more as her body still trembled immensely. She forced herself back up to her feet, her body swaying about as she balanced herself just barely. Then she threw her head back and she started to laugh maniacally.

The zoners around her recoiled at the sound and they started to run off away from her. Penny hardly noticed, lost in the insanity of her own laughter.

sss

Skrawl had never felt his own face pale so fast before. He couldn’t stop staring at Penny, his eyes wide and his mouth going dry. He could feel his heart twisting and yanking, threatening to tear him into the ground. He could feel his head spinning and he grew sicker and sicker by the second. He felt his head buzzing and he was surprised that he was able to stand up like he could.

Through his vision, slightly blurred by the horror going through his body, he could see Penny just standing there, laughing maniacally. It was like she had lost her mind, more so than she ever had before. Skrawl bit his lip and swallowed hard. He had believed that he had seen the worst of her before. It turned out that he was wrong. It could get a lot worse.

The large jellybean zoner attempted to move back. But he found that his feet were locked in place. He felt the sickness spreading throughout his body. He had to fight to make sure that he didn’t end up spewing out his stomach contents all over the ground. He rubbed his stomach as he looked around, seeing all the grotesque scenery around him. He could see the dead bodies, both destroyed and others ripped up and forever staring hauntingly into the sky. He could see some of the other zoners attempting to get away. A few had collapsed already and it didn’t look like they were going to survive anyway.

All the while, the Chalk Queen was just standing there, almost as though she was admiring what was going on. The look in her eyes, which appeared to glow now, suggested just how far gone she was in this moment. Insanity was settling in and he didn’t know how long it was going to last. The only thing that he did know is that he needed to get the hell out of here.

But he could not bring himself to move. He was locked in place, unable to look away from Penny. That woman hadn’t even made a move towards him yet, but somehow her just standing there was more than enough to make sure that he himself didn’t go anywhere. Perhaps it was the way that Penny was surveying her surroundings. It looked like she was on the hunt and looking for another victim. But even with the zoners running all around her, she still didn’t move. What did she want to do?

Slowly, the Chalk Queen looked over at Skrawl. The jellybean zoner immediately shuddered and moved back at this. He adopted a defensive stance, ready to take on the Chalk Queen if he had to, even if he knew it was a losing battle. But all the woman did was chuckle at him before looking away. What the hell was that about?

Skrawl curled his fingers against his palm, nearly slicing into his skin. He gritted his teeth tightly as he thought about this stupid plan that he and Craniac had come up with. He didn’t bother placing more blame on Craniac at the moment. The only thing that he could think of was just how dumb it was that they even tried it at all. It had been the stupidest move that they could possibly make. This isn’t what they wanted, and now they had unleashed something far worse than before.

Skrawl didn’t want something like this to happen. The goal hadn’t been to wipe out a large chunk of ChalkZone City. He hadn’t meant to make Penny more dangerous than before. He just wanted to force her to step down so that he himself could take over. He had his own restrictions in mind, yes. But he never wanted to cause this much destruction.

What was he going to do now? If he just stood there doing nothing, how long would it take for Penny to take action? If he continued to just stare at her, how much time would he waste before he actually tried to do something?

But in the end, he had to do something, right?

“Why are you so scared? Aren’t you proud of me?” Came the Chalk Queen’s sultry, threatening voice. “You were the one who wanted me to do something to protect my position, right? Or at least, that’s what you’ve told me.” Skrawl watched in silence as the woman turned to give him a backwards stare. “But that’s not why you told me, is it? You had something else in mind.”

Skrawl could sense the tone of her voice and he immediately started to back up. Penny did not move from her spot. There was a look of confidence in her eyes, telling the jellybean zoner that she felt that she could do whatever she wanted. There’d be no place that he could go to hide.

Penny tilted herself slightly to one side, giving him an eerie sideways glance. “You have been trying to get rid of me from the start. You couldn’t stand that I was ruling over more things than you, that I was in more power. You wanted me to be your little slave, someone that would do whatever you say.” She gave a bitter chuckle at this. “Well aren’t you just the little usurper.”

Skrawl bared his teeth, trembling. “You were the one who stole power from me. I was just getting it back.”

Penny chuckled darkly at that. “How did that go?”

Skrawl wasn’t able to respond.

Penny stared at him for a few moments, still smiling, before something caught her attention. Skrawl noticed that one of the zoners, Howdy, was crawling along the ground. His small size must have allowed him to survive the blast. Skrawl was certain that he had been close enough to receive a full dosage. But whatever the case might be, there he was, trying to get away, part of his sides burned and one of his legs useless now. Penny narrowed her eyes a little at this before she started to head towards him.

Howdy appeared to sense her footfalls. He stopped himself and looked behind him. His eyes widened in horror when he could see the Chalk Queen getting steadily closer to him. There were some muted cries from terrified zoners that still remained for her to leave him alone. But those cries fell on deaf ears. Despite Howdy’s desperate attempts to get away, the female human grabbed onto him and lifted him up from the ground.

“Where do you think you’re going?” The Chalk Queen asked. Her tone was surprisingly neutral for what Howdy did to her earlier. “Are you in a hurry?”

Howdy’s small form trembled. Whatever anger and determination he had before was replaced with raw horror. “P-Please d-d-don’t hurt me! I’m s-s-sorry!”

Penny tilted her head a little to one side. She scratched her chin slowly, looking as though she was trying to think of whether or not to believe his words. Eventually she reached out and patted him lightly on the head. “Sure you are. Sorry for trying do cahoots with the pirate and now sorry for knocking me down, am I right?”

Howdy nodded his head rapidly. “Y-Yes, my qu-queen!”

Skrawl gritted his teeth at this, flinching slightly. He could tell that Howdy was only saying this because of his fear, and Penny was more than likely going to milk that for all that it was worth. Whatever state of mind that she was in right now, she was going to be highly dangerous until she snapped out of it. This might be a good time for him to try to flee.

“Oh King Skrawl…”

The jellybean zoner froze, cursing at himself for missing his chance to get away. He turned his head to look back at the Chalk Queen. “Y-Yes?” He asked cautiously.

Smirking, Penny used her finger to motion for him to get closer. “We need to talk for a bit. Be a dear and come closer. It’ll make things so much easier.”

Skrawl narrowed his eyes. He shook his head adamantly. “No, whatever you have to say, just do it now. You don’t need me to be that close.” He took a defensive posture once again, his claws flexing rapidly and slowly, interchanging every so often. “I’m not dumb. I’m not going to let you get the best of me that easily.”

“Oh isn’t that just a shame?” Penny looked down at Howdy as she stroked him along his head and back. “Running away like the coward that you are. Is that why you sent all these zoners after me? Did you want them to do the dirty work for you?” She looked up at Skrawl and stared at him in the eyes. “Aren’t you just so pathetic…”

Skrawl let out a small yell and nearly charged at Penny, only to realize what was going on and stopped himself. He felt his body trembling as he glared at her, his teeth grinding against each other as he tried to keep himself from snapping. He could feel his skin burning as he saw Penny’s hideous smile, as though she was enjoying this. It was tempting to try to do something about that. But he was smart enough to keep himself still.

Penny continued to pet Howdy in an almost demeaning way. It was a bit uncomfortable to watch, even for Skrawl. This lasted for several moments, Howdy flinching and whimpering the entire time, before Penny broke the silence. “You know, King Skrawl….” She lifted her gaze up to stare at him in the eyes. “You were the one, as well as Craniac, that I should try to do things for the zoners to make them happy. You were the ones who helped me build up trust with them. Then you took that away in one fell swoop.”

Skrawl didn’t know what to say to that. He could only watch and stare at Penny cautiously, licking his lips slowly. The tone of her voice suggested she was up to something, and he felt his gut stinging inside. He tensed up and prepared himself for what might happen next.

Then the woman’s eyes started to darken. “But it seems that what you are telling me now is...I shouldn’t care about them at all.” This caused Howdy to start to struggle more.

Skrawl hissed, “What makes you think that?”

The glint in the Chalk Queen’s eyes was sharp enough to strike through entire souls. “Well you sent them after me… and they did try to kill me…”

Skrawl could see Penny raising up the atom destroyer again. He felt his heart skipping a beat when she pointed it right at him at first, and then she tilted it towards Howdy. Her finger rested on the trigger as her smile grew twisted by the second.

“Perhaps I should stop imprisoning these zoners and just…”

More pressure on the trigger. Her eyes grew a little wider as an insane smile took over her face.

“Get rid of them.”

There was no stopping the female human from pulling the trigger. Skrawl could do nothing but watch in shock and horror as Penny obliterated Howdy in her hands, his body tearing apart in the bright light, his scream echoing across the city. Then he was just gone and an eerie silence replaced the noise.

By this time, most of the other zoners had fled. There were still a few squirming on the ground, but something told Skrawl that this was not to last for long. He didn’t question it at the moment, however, as his wide eyes stared at the Chalk Queen, unable to believe what he had just seen. His body trembled harder than before and he swallowed loudly, trying to move himself back. He froze when Penny turned her attention to him. It was like his legs were filled with cement.

Skrawl couldn’t move and he couldn’t breathe. He could only watch as Penny started to come towards him intently.

sss

Using his cane, Rudy scrambled to get away as quickly as he could. He could feel his feet slipping on the ground as he tried to keep himself upon his feet. He struggled to keep his body from swaying back and forth. His eyes were glued on the scene before him and he was unable to look away. He had no idea how this was going to end, but he did know that the result would decide what his fate was going to be.

Craniac was struggling with Courtney, holding onto her and attempting to strangle her. Courtney was still swaying her neck about as she tried to dislodge him. She let out loud screeches of anger and even a bit of terror. Rudy saw some blood coming down her neck and he flinched, realizing that Craniac must have drawn blood with his claws.

After what seemed like an eternity, Courtney appeared to have finally gained the upper hand. She swung her head against the ground, near one of the trees, and this created a big enough impact that Craniac was forced to let go. Courtney squawked and rushed at him, her feathers ruffled up to make herself look bigger. She raised her foot up and stomped down on Craniac. He let out a cry of pain as she did this and he struggled underneath her weight.

“Get off of me, you stupid bird! I command you!” Craniac shouted as he twisted himself from side to side. The bird’s weight trumped his own, which left him unable to do anything. “Hey! Did you hear me?! I said let go!”

Courtney narrowed her eyes and lowered her head. She stared at him directly with little distance between them. She opened her beak and let out a low, almost unearthly hiss. Rudy felt chills going up and down his spine. He was glad that this sound was not directed at him.

Craniac didn’t seem all that bothered by the sound, however. He just kept on struggling. He pushed against Courtney’s large feet, his LED eyes closed tightly as his red lightbulb-shaped body kept squirming around. He let out several electronic grunts, pushing against Courtney more and more. The bird zoner snarled at him in annoyance and appeared to try to shift more weight into her foot.

At first, Rudy thought that this was a done match and that Craniac had clearly lost. He felt himself starting to relax a little, feeling a bit safer. He moved back a little and then shifted himself against his cane, trying to help himself calm down further.

But this wasn’t to last.

Rudy’s eyes widened in horror and he clutched his piece of magic chalk and took a defensive arched stance as he saw Craniac grabbing onto Courtney’s neck again. The crimson-colored robotic zoner pulled the massive bird’s head close to him before striking at the bird’s face. The claw went up against one of Courtneys’ eyes, not destroying it but still causing immense pain to the zoner.

“Scrraaaa!” Courtney let out a loud screech of pain as she staggered back. She shook her head, wiping at her face and beak with her wing.

“I’ve got you now!” Craniac used this distraction to his advantage. He got up to his wheel foot and charged at Courtney. He started to twirl one of his arms around and around, picking up momentum as he went. “This will learn you not to mess with me again!”

Rudy cringed back as he saw how hard Craniac struck Courtney. The bird zoner slipped along the ground, her feet unable to get a good grip. Her head had been swung back, unable to take the full force of the strike delivered to her. She then, unable to keep standing up for much longer, collapsed into the ground. It appeared as though she were knocked out, given how she wasn’t moving save for a few twitches.

That meant that he was now alone with Craniac.

The robotic zoner did not waste much time in turning around to confront him. Craniac stared at him intently, his face showing little sign of glory, as though he just wanted to get this done and over with. Rudy kept his defensive stance, squeezing his magic chalk tighter and leaning more firmly into the cane. He let out a series of low hisses and growls as Craniac got closer to him. He raised his chalk up a little, hoping that would deter Craniac from getting any closer.

But it didn’t. Craniac just continued to get ever closer to him, his hand and claw flexing. The robot didn’t even bother to say anything. It was like he just didn’t want to waste any further time and just wanted to get done with this. Rudy gulped as he raised his hand up, wanting to try to draw something. But he couldn’t keep himself steady enough, and with Craniac so close…

Rudy let out a pained grunt when he could feel Craniac grabbing onto his neck. It was squeezed tightly and then the robotic zoner pushed him up against a nearby tree, rammed at full force. He was held there firmly, his legs kicking outward in desperation, his cane having dropped to the ground as well as his chalk.

With no other option, Rudy grabbed onto Craniac’s claw and tried to pry himself free. He bared his teeth as he stared at him with narrowed eyes. He shuddered at how the robotic zoner was staring at him. It was an expression that told him that, whatever Craniac wanted to do with him, he was not going to like it. And all Rudy could do was keep struggling and hope that he could get himself free before anything happened.

“It looks like you’ve run into a dead end, Great Creator…” Craniac spoke sarcastically. Rudy glared at him. “I wonder wh…”

Suddenly, a shout froze the two of them.

“Craniac!”

They both turned around and stiffened up at who was approaching them.


	23. A Blow To The Psyche

Penny felt her eyes furrowing into deep slits, her lip curled up into a snarl. She folded her arms to her chest and tapped her foot slowly. She stared expectantly at the robotic zoner before her, waiting for him to explain himself. Not that she really expected him to have a good excuse. But perhaps if he had a good reason for what he was doing, she might consider letting him go.

“Y-Your highness…! I-I didn’t see you there. How long were you….” Craniac stammered.

“Long enough.” Penny took a step forward. She didn’t bother looking at Rudy. Though her mind was echoing with questions on just what the hell he was doing here, she kept her attention entirely focused on Craniac himself. “Do you mind explaining to me what you were going to do with him?”

Craniac nodded his head quickly. “Yes I d-d-don’t mind! Y-You see, I c-c-caught him sneaking out and I...w-wanted to bring him back!”

“I see. And just how did you know that he was my prisoner?” Penny narrowed her eyes a little further. She could see the flash of fear in Craniac’s eyes. “I never divulged that sort of information to anyone. But it seems Skrawl did find out somehow.” She tilted her head to one side. “Did he tell you? Or did you help him out with that?”

“I-I-I…” Craniac’s voice distorted from nervousness. It almost looked like he was having a bit of a short fuse, unable to finish speaking. He moved back from Rudy and raised his hands up, trying to look harmless. “I’m so sorry for wh-what I did! P-Please, you can’t just….!’

Penny shook her head slowly. “Oh don’t worry, I won’t do anything.”

Craniac let out a sigh of relief.

“Yet.”

The crimson robot stiffened up at this.

Penny’s eyes stared intently into his LED ones. She could feel the warmth of their glow as they pierced into Craniac’s eyes. She moved in closer, using her height to look more intimidating to him, to loom over him as he tried to get away. She let her shadow cast over him as she smirked at him darkly.

“I hope that you don’t give me a reason to take action. I have made some...tighter rules now, and if I catch you disobeying them, I will personally disassemble you.” Penny told Craniac.

“Y-You’re…” Craniac wasn’t able to finish his sentence. Penny chuckled as she listened to how distorted and cracked his voice was, how that single word had a lot of skips in it.

“If you don’t believe me, why don’t you just ask Skrawl?” Penny asked innocently.

Craniac reeled back from this. “K-King Skrawl? Y-You…”

Penny merely shrugged her shoulders. She tilted her head up, adopting a ‘who cares’ kind of expression. “He is still alive. I did not kill him. I just gave him a taste of what is to come if he dares try to cross me again.” She pointed her finger at Craniac. “The same fight lays in wait for you if you try to usurp me again. Do I make myself clear?”

Craniac’s trembling body moved back. His expression of fear grew more intense as he appeared to have noticed that Penny was pulling out the magic chalk. His LED eyes flashed with horror and he shook his hands in front of him in desperation, his rapidly processing robotic brain struggling in vain to keep himself from getting hurt. Despite being a machine, he had plenty of things to worry about himself. “Yes, clear as crystal! I-I-I won’t t-t-try anything again! I promise!”

Penny leaned in closer to him, eyeing him up and down. Craniac continued to shudder and he appeared to be waiting for Penny to take some kind of action. When she didn’t, he started to look a little confused. It was at this point that Penny smiled.

“I am glad to hear that. Now, you are free to go. Ensure that we don’t need to have such a nasty talk again.” Penny motioned her hand outwards, signalling for Craniac to leave.

And Craniac was right on that. She had never seen him move away that fast. His wheel foot must be spinning really fast. She could hear the loud screeches from where she stood, even as he disappeared into the horizon. She guessed that he was running right back home. Of course he would. The little coward would often retreat there when something didn’t go right for him. She shook her head at the thought.

But now she had something else to deal with. She slowly turned her head and she narrowed her eyes at Rudy. She could feel many thoughts going through her head as she stared at the boy. She felt a rising sense of anger that she was battling to keep down. Confusion dominated her head as she tried to think of just how he had gotten out. With her heart thumping in her chest, she started to make her way over towards the young man.

Rudy scrambled up to his feet and attempted to move back. As he did this, Penny turned her eyes around to look at the area around him. It would seem that he had been using a cane to move around more easily, but that still did not explain how he had gotten out. Then she turned her eyes to the other side and then…

Penny’s eyes widened in shock. Was that..?

It was.

A piece of magic chalk.

Immediately Penny rushed over, her mind exploding with spinning thoughts. She moved too fast for Rudy to respond quickly enough. He staggered back, letting out a loud scream as Penny reached over and grabbed onto the magic chalk. Before he had time to get up, she swung herself around and was practically in his face as she held up the piece of chalk up, shaking it at him.

“Where did you get this?!” Penny demanded.

Rudy laid on the ground, curled up into a small ball. He trembled as he looked up at her in fear and horror. “I-I…”

“Tell me!”

Rudy flinched at this and turned his head away, with his eyes shut. “S-Skrawl gave it to me… I-I don’t know why…”

Penny’s dark brown eyes went huge, her teeth partially exposed. She stiffened herself up and moved a little back as she registered what Rudy had just told her. She could feel her memories flooding in the back of her head and she recalled that she had suspected as much days ago. She couldn’t believe that she had forgotten about that. If she had just tried to…. Why did she forget it so easily?

Then the answer practically bit her in the face. Of course, wasn’t that when she had attacked Rudy so viciously? No wonder she couldn’t remember that until now. Her mind was too focused on...other things.

So that’s how he got the magic chalk, eh…?

Penny leaned herself away from Rudy, letting her posture go a little looser. She stared at him blankly as she felt other thoughts now emerging. If Rudy had a piece of magic chalk all this time, then why didn’t he try to use it on her? What had stopped him? She couldn’t understand it. She knew how much he wanted to get out of here. So why not take the chance?

She glanced down at the cane that he must have drawn. And that’s when she noticed something about it. While a cane was a simple thing to draw, Rudy’s rendition of it did seem a little amateurish, even for someone like him. There didn’t seem to be much depth to it and she was surprised that he could use it well at all. Everything clicked into place for her in that moment and it didn’t take her long to realize what was going on.

Rudy had lost much of his artistic ability. That, combined with his bad leg, the boy must have realized that he could do little against her. Which was why he waited until the right moment before he tried to pull something like this.

Penny scoffed at this. “You’re quite clever, Rudy. Timing all of this, waiting until I was gone and most would be busy… Oh yes, that’s pretty smart of you.” She narrowed her eyes a little deeper. “But it wasn’t good enough, now was it?” She twisted her neck to one side, making herself appear almost owl-like to Rudy. “And now look at where you are. Tsk tsk tsk… How should I punish you for this…?”

Rudy shook his head and whimpered in desperation. “Please don’t hurt me…” He raised his hands and arms over his head as though that would protect him from whatever’s about to come. “H-Have m-m-mercy on me.. Ch-Chalk Queen.”

Penny lightly tapped her finger against her chin. “So you want me to show mercy on you? I have tightened up the rules now but you still want mercy?” She held her hand up in gesture as she stared at Rudy intently. “Is that what you’re telling me?”

Rudy flinched and nodded. “P-P-Please… I won’t try to escape again…”

“I have given people here chances. I found out recently that I was being...too loose. I had opened myself up to being taken advantage of. The zoners here, they had tried to get rid of me because I was ‘too soft’. I didn’t hammer down the rules hard enough. I’m not about to let that happen again.” Penny put her hands on her hips as she glared at Rudy with bared teeth. “And you honestly want me to make you the exception?”

The air around the two of them grew increasingly tense. It was like a cloud was descending upon them, threatening to rip them apart. All Rudy could do was quiver and stare at Penny. Any effort to get up would have been stopped immediately. The distance between them was too small now. And to solidify this, Penny grabbed onto Rudy’s hair and tugged at it, almost threatening to tear off the scalp with it.

“Well guess what?! I’m not doing that! You’re under the same rules as everyone else now! And if you think that I’m going to be merciful to you just because you used to be my friend, well...heheheh.. You’re barking up the wrong tree, ‘Great Creator’...”

Rudy started to scramble on the ground. He froze when he felt her tug on his head harder. He shook harder as he stared up at her, silently begging for mercy. Penny kept her teeth bared, wanting Rudy to know just how serious she was about this.

It was nothing personal against him. She just couldn’t allow something to happen that would cause her to lose power. She hardly blamed Rudy for what happened at this point, as he was not involved with the plan. She wished that she had never listened to Skrawl and Craniac. She should have kept her tight control from the start. Now she was being forced to be even harsher just so that…

She was interrupted when she felt a large shadow rapidly casting over her body. She looked up and she barely had time to back away before a large beak attempted to strike down on her. She flinched at the loud sound that the beak had made and she tilted her head back to see who had tried to attack her. She felt her mouth nearly drop open at who stood there now.

“C-Courtney…?” Penny whispered softly.

She stared in shock as Courtney stood protectively over Rudy. She had her wings raised up and her feathers ruffled. She stared at her with wide eyes filled with both anger and confusion. She snapped her beak a few times in a warning manner, showing the girl that she was willing to attack if she had to.

Penny wasn’t able to speak for several moments as she tried to understand what was happening here. Courtney never turned on her like this before. She couldn’t fathom what thought processes were going on inside of her head. What she did know is that, for whatever reason, she had developed a protectiveness over Rudy very quickly. Was it because when she was created….

Penny wiped the thought out of her head and she folded her arms to her chest. She snarled at her creation, feeling intense annoyance piling up inside of her at the bird’s interruption. She thought about punishing her right then and there….but then decided against it. Besides...she didn’t really need to hurt Rudy. It seemed he understood the consequences enough and she imagined that Craniac had terrified him.

Yeah, no need to make things worse.

Penny just turned and started to head back towards the castle. She made a quick motion with her hand and said, “Bring him with. I have a safe place where he can rest from this ordeal just fine.”

She didn’t bother looking back to make sure that they were following. There was no need. Courtney was still loyal to her, despite the earlier transgression. And Rudy’s condition would make it very hard for him to get away. There wasn’t a thing that she needed to worry about.

sss

Rudy trembled hard as he felt Penny moving her hands along his skin. She hadn’t attempted to hurt him, like she promised, but that did little to settle himself down. He still expected her to strike him at any moment, to kick him when he was still down. She had every reason to, after all. He had been caught trying to escape from her. What if her acting this way was just her delaying things until…

He hissed a little when Penny started to apply disinfectant to the scrapes given to him by Craniac. He hadn’t exactly been very gentle with him. But those injuries weren’t that bad. He felt as though Penny was going a little overboard with the disinfectant. But with nowhere else to go and without any options to get away, he just held still and allowed her to proceed.

Things were pretty awkward between them. The level of uncertainty ahead made him feel increasingly uncomfortable. He had no idea what he should be expecting right now. He didn’t know where all of this could lead to. For all he was aware of, Penny might still try to hurt him after this. She might let him feel as though he was safe, and then strike him down. There was no way that she would just let him off with a warning, right? Especially considering what she had done to Skrawl….or whatever she had done. Rudy shuddered at the thought and he tried not to think about it.

As he watched cautiously at Penny finishing up her work, wrapping up the small scrapes in bandage cloth, his mind swirled elsewhere, recalling something else. Didn’t Penny hint that she had done something to the other zoners as well? Was Skrawl the only one she had punished or…

The thought filled him up with dread. He could feel his heart skipping several beats. His breathing increased as it tried to keep up with his racing heart. He wanted to believe that Penny wouldn’t do such a thing. But he had been proven wrong time and time again.

This just might be another one of those times.

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt Penny tighten up the last bandage. She moved a bit faster this time, which caused him to give a small yelp. She made a few adjustments before she leaned back, staring at him intently. Then came her uncomfortably soft voice, “Okay, all finished. That should take care of things.”

Rudy didn’t attempt to question her why she chose to do this for such minor wounds. It probably wouldn’t end well. So instead he just lowered his head in submission and whispered, “Thank you, Chalk Queen…”

“You’re very welcome, Rudy.”

The response felt a little robotic. Not that she ever sounded sincere when she said that, but this time, it felt almost...forced. Penny hesitated to speak, her head aimed away from him. Rudy could almost feel the woman’s words being pushed back into her throat, as though she did want to say something, but didn’t have the knowledge of what to say.

Regardless, Rudy wasn’t complaining. The longer that Penny wasn’t able to think of what to say, the more time that he had to feel safe. Penny must not have an idea of what to do with him yet, and at least he could look forward to not feeling very… His thoughts were cut off when Penny suddenly turned around to stare at him, moving so fast that he nearly tripped off the bed.

“So Skrawl gave you that thing and you don’t know why?” Penny asked. The tone that she used indicated that it was a rhetorical question. Rudy kept his mouth shut, to which Penny just nodded her head slowly. “I see… I wonder what he had planned, then.” She turned her gaze away. “Perhaps he was hoping that you would go after me? Perhaps he was hoping that you would be the one who put an end to me, like some sort of backup plan.”

That did seem possible. Rudy had gotten the hint pretty easily that Skrawl did not like working under Penny. He had always been the one to not like to share the spotlight, and that he would have wanted to hog everything to himself. Of course he would hate the idea of being seen as ‘weaker’ than Penny.

“I’m right, aren’t I? That sounds like Skrawl.” Penny commented. She paced back and forth in front of Rudy, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “He might have known that I could catch onto his little plan, so he made a backup and…” She stopped before staring at Rudy intently. “...why hadn’t you tried to escape?”

Rudy stuttered, “H-How…? With my leg… I wouldn’t have..”

“I had a feeling about that. But..doesn’t hurt to just make sure, you know? I wouldn’t want something like this to happen again..” Her voice grew a little darker, causing Rudy to flinch and lean away from her. She stopped herself before turning her head to stare at him, letting her mouth spread into a smile. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

The boy quickly nodded his head. “Y-Yes, your highness.”

Penny slowly narrowed her eyes, and it was hard to tell if she was satisfied or not. She now faced him fully, her fingers tapping against each other a few times. She had a contemplating look on her face. Rudy shivered at this and he had to struggle to not cringe back from her. Just what was she going to do now? “Rudy… I have been meaning to talk to you about something.” She paused for a moment to lower her hands and lean her head slightly closer. “Do you remember the whole issue revolving around your…” She turned her head to the side. “...parents..?”

It didn’t take long for Rudy to feel an uncomfortable sensation shooting up and down his spine when Penny said that. He felt his teeth grinding against each other and he felt some kind of poisonous sensation in his stomach. He forced himself to swallow, ignoring the bitter taste, as he said, “Y-Yes… I remember that…”

“Well of course you do. And I’m sure that you now know that going back to the Real World would be pointless. The last people there who cared about you are now dead.” Penny stated flatly.

“Th-That’s not true!” Rudy snarled. “How can you…”

“But no point in divulging about that. Not why I brought this up.” Penny said, cutting him off. “I have another reason for doing so. You see, since you’re still trapped here and you already know that your parents are gone…”

Rudy felt his stomach sting at this. He had hoped that it wasn’t true. He had hoped that Penny or Skrawl were lying. But Penny had just said it out loud and there was no way that he could misunderstand this. He felt his body tremble as he struggled to keep his tears back. He focused on just glaring at Penny, wanting to show at least some level of determination with whatever courage that he still had left in him.

“Don’t you want to know exactly how they died?”

Rudy nearly jolted back at this question. He stared at Penny long and hard, unable to think of a quick enough response. He just stammered and stuttered, and all he could do was manage a weak nod.

“Well okay then… I’ll tell you what happened. They were…”

Rudy prepared himself for the worst.

sss

“Ahhhrggh! Quit that!”

“Oh calm down, you big baby! It wasn’t that bad!”

“It stings! You should be more gentle!”

“Well if you weren’t so jumpy and sensitive, then…”

“Shut up, Craniac!”

Skrawl gritted his teeth tightly as he tried to endure the treatment he was being given from Craniac. He didn’t know how he had found him so fast or how he even managed to trick Penny into thinking that he was going back home. None of that mattered right now, anyway. They had both failed and all they could do was lick their wounds, figuratively speaking.

Skrawl could feel his side burning up, stinging pain spreading throughout his body. It seemed like, no matter what he tried to do, it just kept hurting him worse and worse. It was like someone had taken a torch and put it to his side, burning it from the inside out. He was lucky that this was all that happened. He didn’t know if the Chalk Queen had deliberately missed or not. What he did know is that the small graze that he got was enough to tear up his right side, leaving a sizzling black mark.

Craniac had found him trying to crawl along the ground to get help. As much as he hated Craniac, this was the one time that he was glad to see the robot zoner coming towards him. He wasn’t sure how much he could trust a robot to patch up his wounds, though. But there was nowhere else to turn for him, unfortunately.

Skrawl could feel a cold shudder as he recalled the words that the Chalk Queen had said to him. He could remember her threat very clearly. She sounded so serious, her voice dripping with so much venum. The words would be etched into his mind forever.

“If you try something like this again, I will ensure that I will not miss your face.”

Not the best chosen words for such a threat, but it was still affective. It carried with it enough impact to make Skrawl nervous about what he was going to do next. He could feel his min buzzing with thoughts as he struggled to figure out what he was going to do next. The Chalk Queen was now onto him and there was little hope of him sneaking another attack like this again. There was only one thing that he could see at the moment.

And that was failure. He and Craniac had given it their best shots and they had failed completely. Now they wouldn’t have another chance like this again. And their shot had such dire consequences. Skrawl hadn’t intended for all of those zoners to get killed. The thought of the same fate meeting him caused him to nearly throw up.

And yet he still refused to give up entirely. He tried to keep a hopeful tone in his mind. Sure they had failed at this and sure they had lost whatever secrecy that they had about the plan. But that didn’t mean that they couldn’t try something else. There was always a way to the goal, no matter the obstacles in the way. They just needed to think of a new, unconventional way around the issue.

Skrawl flinched when he felt Craniac pull on the bandage a bit more tightly. This lasted for a few seconds before the robotic zoner finished up, tying the bandage firmly against his side. Skrawl looked down at it and gave a faint smile. For a robot, he didn’t do half bad of a job.

“There, that should do it.” Craniac said. He wiped his glass dome head and let out a sigh of relief. “Good thing I’m done. I should head back to the Future Dome and see if anything’s happened there. I don’t know where the Chalk Queen had gone off to. I don’t want…”

“Yeah yeah, but we should first discuss our next plan of action! We…”

“...did you say ‘we’?”

“Um, yes?”

“Count me out.”

Skrawl stared at the robotic zoner in shock, his mismatched eyes widening. He kept staring to see if the zoner had been joking, but there was no signs of such a thing. He took in a few breaths before he narrowed his eyes slowly, clenching his teeth tightly. He felt a wave of confusion crashing in against him. Craniac hadn’t hinted that he was out of the game before. Why the sudden change of heart now?

“How dare you…” Skrawl hissed through his clenched teeth. “We’re supposed to be a team! Don’t you want that deal?!” Skrawl raised his hand up, his claws curving inward and shaking. “Y-You were the one who wanted that….that thing! And now you are going to back out?! You’re such a coward, Craniac!”

“Perhaps, but at least I’m smart. I’m not going to continue wasting my resources on a lost cause.” Craniac shot back. There was a tinge of something on his voice, but Skrawl paid little attention to it.

With his body shaking, Skrawl pointed an accusing finger at Craniac. “S-So that’s it, isn’t it?! You’re going to just walk away despite how far we’ve come! I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you!”

Craniac gave him a look. “Or perhaps you shouldn’t have trusted yourself.”

Skrawl snarled at this.

Craniac shrugged his segmented arms. Not looking one bit bothered by the zoner’s reactions. “Hey, I’m just telling you the truth. It isn’t my fault if you can’t handle it.” He lowered his arms to his side. His claw hand motioned towards Skrawl as the robot’s face contorted however much that it could into a frown. “You’re the one who is obsessed with not playing second fiddle to the Chalk Queen. Because of your ambitions, we’re both on her list! You should count your lucky stars that she didn’t just kill you right on the spot!”

Skrawl opened his mouth to speak, but then he froze. He couldn’t exactly find fault in that logic. Craniac did make a good point. It wasn’t the greatest earlier, but at least he had some sort of place here. Perhaps Penny really had not been plotting against him like he thought. Now he had given her all the reason in the world to do that. At this realization, he felt a sting in his chest and he bit his lip firmly.

There was no going back at this point. There was nothing that was going to undo the damage that was already done. Almost anything that he could think of would just be viewed by Penny as an attempt to climb out of his little hole and try again. It might prompt her to take further action against him. He felt his side lighting up on fire and forcing him to hiss in agony as he thought about that. He clutched his side, trying to get it to settle down. As he cringed like this, as Craniac stared at him accusingly, he could feel a new set of heavy thoughts coming into his skull, echoing like he had mountains in his head.

He hated the idea of relenting. He still would rather keep trying, to show Penny that he wasn’t yet fully done with his attempts. But at the same time, would it be worth it? She was on her guard now. She would keep her eyes on him. She would be on the lookout for anything suspicious. He had gone and goofed up and there was nothing that he could do to change it back.

There was only one option left.

He would have to surrender.

Skrawl nearly threw up at this thought. He felt his stomach lurching, struggling to find its way out of his mouth. But there was nothing else left to do. Maybe he could just simply wait until another time. Bide his time by keeping himself submissive to Penny…

...or permanently. After all, he did have something of a good role. Even if he wasn’t the one fully in charge, what he did get was still something.

As much as he hated to admit it, that might be the best thing for him to do.

For now.

Skrawl let out a small sigh as he nodded his head slowly. “...perhaps you are right, Craniac.” He said. He kept his voice low and soft, and he stared over at Craniac’s confused expression. “Maybe it was too ambitious of me to try to take control from the Chalk Queen. It would seem that I have made things worse.”

Craniac blinked a few times, staring at Skrawl as though he had been replaced by another zoner. It took him a few seconds before he was able to snap back to reality long enough to nod his head in return and say, “Y-Yes, see? I t-t-told you that..” His grainy voice dissipated quickly. Skrawl tried not to chuckle. Had he disturbed Craniac that much?

Skrawl then looked away, his eyes furrowing softly. Even if the Chalk Queen won this battle, she had not won the war. It mattered not if he himself did anything. Someone else could take up the mantle themselves. He let himself smirk broadly at the thought.

He would eagerly look forward to that day.

sss

“And that is all that I know.”

Rudy recalled how those words echoed in his head, refusing to stop. He recalled how his wide, horrified eyes stared into Penny, trying to find something else that she might want to say. She just stared back at him, her eyes narrowing a little as she regarded him with a level like...contempt was the only word that came to mind.

Rudy couldn’t remember how long it had been since Penny had left him alone. But he did not care at that moment. It didn’t really matter anyway. He had little reason to think that she was lying. Not with the way that she spoke….and especially not with that news section she had showed him. He didn’t know how long she had that with her but it was a little unsettling for Rudy to know that she just had it with her, ready to pull out to prove to him that his parents were…

Rudy swallowed hard as he recalled those horrible words that Penny told him. He could still feel his stomach twisting painfully as he realized, for the first time, that his parents were really dead. There was no more suspicions or confusions. He had been told the truth upfront and he knew that his parents were gone. No amount of prayer or hope was going to change that fact.

He hardly noticed how his body was aching as he remained curled up in a ball like this. He hadn’t noticed that his back was starting to feel numb from having it pressed up against the suddenly freezing wall. He didn’t notice how his vision seemed slightly blurred and distorted from his tears. He took in a few shaky breaths, trembling constantly as the world around him felt like it was spinning. He couldn’t help but release several low whimperings from his open mouth, his lips quivering.

He didn’t want to believe it. He didn’t want to think that his parents were actually dead. He tried to think of some way that Penny might be wrong. Maybe she had faked that clip. Maybe she was just trying to find ways of keeping him in ChalkZone. He would not put it past her to do something like this.

But it didn’t matter how much he tried to figure things out. Nothing would change what he heard and nothing would explain it. How in their right minds would agree to make such a sick fake recording of people burning alive? Who was going to believe whatever reasoning Penny could come up with? Nothing made sense. No matter how determined that she was, she would have failed to garner enough interest to have something like that made.

Rudy took in a loud, trembling gasp, tinged in a small cry. He put his face against his legs, pressed up against his chest. He ignored the pain that surged through his leg and chest as he cried softly. His tears blurred his vision further and soon he started to have trouble breathing.

It just wasn’t fair… How could that have happened to his parents..? What did they do to deserve it…? He felt his head aching as he struggled to find an explanation. But nothing made sense.

It hurt so much… Oh gawd how much it hurt… He...He didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye…

Unable to control himself, Rudy pulled his head back and let out a loud, long, mournful cry. The sound echoed off the walls everywhere, reverberating and filling the air with an increased melancholy tension. This only served to worsen his emotions, causing him to start to cry harder.

What was he going to do…? Oh gawd, what was he going to do…?


	24. Conflicting Feelings

It had been easy to hear the cries through the door. There was no need for her to open up the door to know exactly what was going on. Her ears ached as the sounds pounded against her ear drums. She curled her lip up into a snarl as she narrowed her eyes. She couldn’t help but let out a low growl of irritation.

But could she really blame him for this kind of reaction? After all, he did find out for certain that his parents had both died in a fire. Perhaps she should have been a little nicer about telling him. But then, at the same time, one of the reasons she told him like that was because she wanted to punish him for trying to escape. Was it a rather cruel way of going about it? Yes, she would admit. Still, Rudy should not have tried to get away. He would have gotten the story told to him in a less harsh way.

Penny paused as she stood in front of the door, licking her lips slowly. She hesitated for a few moments before she forced herself to turn the doorknob. It swung open and she peered inside. It didn’t take her long to see Rudy’s sobbing form on the ground, pressed up next to the bed, against the wall. She stared at him for a few long moments before releasing a small sigh. She shut the door behind her and she started to make her way over towards him.

She didn’t know how to feel when Rudy hardly responded to her. He just kept his gaze from her, buried into his arms. His cries continued to echo and she could see the shininess that came from the the stream of seemingly endless tears.

The sight of this was enough to make her emotions sting in her chest. She licked her lips slowly and she swallowed hard, feeling her own eyes grow a little misty. She shut her eyes tightly and shook her head quickly, trying to prevent herself from doing something like that. No, she shouldn’t cry at this. It was a sign of weakness. She had to remain strong. Drawing in a deep breath, she continued to make her way over slowly.

It was only when she got close enough that Rudy looked up and took notice of her. His eyes immediately widened in horror and she fully expected him to try to struggle again. To her surprise, Rudy only shook harder as he turned his head away from her. He looked up at her pleadingly, as though silently asking her to leave him alone. The sight of this sent several thoughts into Penny’s head as she tried to think of what to do. Then she just continued to get closer, setting aside her own feelings.

Slowly, she dropped down onto her knee in front of him. She stared at him intently, watching how his tears flowed down his face, watching as he stared at her like she was the devil. Penny could feel her mind reeling at that thought, and a part of her realized how true it was.

But it was too late to change that, wasn’t it?

Penny tried not to let that thought conquer her mind too much. She didn’t know what she thought she was going to do in that moment, but a part of her felt uncomfortable with just letting Rudy cry alone. She didn’t know what compelled her, but she leaned herself forward and moved her arms around Rudy. She leaned in closer to him and kept him encased in the hug, feeling his body shaking against hers.

A small part of her did freeze as she realized the events of earlier that day, and the implications that came with it. She remembered what she had told Rudy about the tightening rules and while she still wanted to keep up with that…

No, she could worry about that later. She could always regret what she was doing right now later. She managed to cast aside whatever she was feeling, and she focused on holding Rudy to herself in a fashion that looked almost...protective.

sss

The next day, Penny decided to pay a visit to her mother. She was still shaken up by what happened in ChalkZone and she was still confused by what she had done with Rudy. She needed a place where she could just clear her mind at least try to relax a little. What better place than at her mother’s?

Or at least, that’s what she had hoped. The moment she had stepped in her, she couldn’t help but feel tense. It was like she was moving through a thick fog and she had to fight against the clouds themselves. She didn’t understand why this was the case, either. It wasn’t like her mother looked upset. Heck, she looked...happy that she was here.

So what was going on?

Penny sat down on the couch, leaning slightly back, as she held the cup of tea in her hands. Not exactly her favorite, but she didn’t want to make her mother look like a bad host. So she leaned in a little closer and began to sip at it. She paused for a moment as she lowered it down, licking the weird taste off of her lips.

Looking over, she could see that her mother was filling out some paperwork. Related to her work, no doubt. Penny hadn’t spoken much of a word since she came in. She didn’t want to interrupt her mother’s work, after all. But at the same time, she did feel a little guilty about being a little too quiet. Maybe she should try to at least start some kind of conversation.

But when she tried to speak, she froze, and it wasn’t just because of her mother being busy. An old memory started to crawl its way into the back of her head, causing her to freeze up suddenly. She could feel a cold chill entering her bloodstream as she remembered what her mother had mentioned, and the implications that it had given. Penny tried to shake it off, feeling sick to her stomach at the thought, but it would not leave her alone. This time, it clung to her mind like a vice, refusing to give her any sort of relief.

She still hadn’t heard anything in the media about that fire being deliberate, like her mom had suggested. Maybe it was because she wasn’t reading the newspapers or watching television as much. Maybe there was a version of the story running around like that. But it did not change the fact that it still left her uncomfortable with the possibility that…

No, it was impossible. Her mom just guessed, that’s all. There’s so far no evidence for any such attack, and it’s not like her mom was the only person that would have come to that kind of conclusion. Many would have suspected it to be on purpose. That was just how they thought.

She was just overreacting. She needed to learn to relax some more.

In an effort to get her thought processes away from that particular topic, Penny cleared her throat as she turned to stare back at her mother. Once she managed to get the woman’s attention, Penny fought back the feelings of guilt at having interrupted her and said, “H-How are you doing…?”

Her mother blinked a few times before saying, “I’m doing okay. I thought you already ask…”

“I know. I just wanted to make sure.” Penny quickly stated. It was a bit of a lie, but at least this was a start. Now to just move forward with it and maybe she would start to feel a little better. “Work been going fine for you? I see you have been busier than usual.” She motioned her hand towards her mother, indicating the papers in her hands.

“Oh yes, that I have been.” Her mom nodded her head. She had a small smile on her face. Weak but still there. “I’ve been getting more applications lately. I guess some people are just feeling sorry about…” Her mom seemed to catch herself and she stopped. She cleared her thought and gave Penny a sideways glance. “Well, anyway, business has been picking up again and it’s been really helpful.”

Penny furrowed her eyes slightly at the earlier remark. But she soon managed to just toss it to the side for now. She tried not to worry about it too much as she said, “How many customers do you have applying now?”

Her mother smiled at her, “I’ve gotten ten just today.”

Penny’s eyes went big. “Ten? That’s….pretty incredible..!” She exclaimed. She realized what she was doing and she coughed and cleared her throat before returning to her previous position. “Do you think this trend will continue?”

“I imagine it will.” Her mother said. “Some of the folks around here can be really nice when it comes to helping fellow neighbors in need.”

Penny couldn’t agree more with that. She recalled how the neighbors had rallied a few times to help Rudy’s parents try to recover from the loss of his son. Penny silently wished that the neighbors had tried harder and longer. Perhaps that would have helped them out more easily. But for what they did, she still appreciated it. It was still far better than nothing. At least the two adults got some sense of comfort.

But not all of the effort was...smooth. She was aware that her mother had tried to help out as well. But the Tabooties seemed to just push her away. Penny could not understand why. She thought that they would have liked the comfort. Then she realized, sometime later, that the Tabooties appeared to have placed some blame on her for what happened. And as a result, a strain was being pushed between the lot of them.

While Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie weren’t...wrong about her being responsible, they didn’t really have much evidence to base it on. It was likely only because she was the last person to see him alive, from what she stated. The anger and contempt may have come later, when they had more time to think and they started to realize that there might be a connection and then…

Penny tried not to let it bother her too much. The parents were grieving and they just weren’t thinking straight. She opted to just avoid them as much as possible as to not put a strain on their minds further. But she was aware that her mother had continued to try to speak to them and then things started to go downhill from there. In fact, Penny was certain that it was around that time that her mother’s business started to suffer. She had tried to chalk it up to bad luck, but it did seem odd that it would happen around that time, when they were having a fall out. Talk about your bad timing and…

..or was it bad timing…?

Suddenly, Penny was hit by a wave of thoughts, each getting worse than the other. She slowly turned her head back to her mother. The thoughts still echoing in the back of her head, her throat going a little dry, she forced herself to start speaking.

“...s-say, mom? I have a question.”

Her mom seemed to sense something on the edge of her daughter’s voice. She stared at her with a confused expression. Then she said, “Yes, honey? Is something the matter?”

“I...I wanted to know…” Penny paused herself for a moment. She did feel strange in saying something like this. She didn’t know just how out of line she was being. She hoped that she didn’t sound too strange with this. She could feel her heart pounding inside of her chest and twisting to one side as emotion crawled into her head. With a small hiccup of a breath, the girl managed to speak. “Why did your business start to go downhill for a while?”

“Penny… I already told you this. Things just started to change. I told you about that rival vet that opened up elsewhere in town. People have been taking their business to them.” Her mother explained. There was a bit of an exasperated tone to her voice, as though she was getting a little annoyed. “Really, Penny, there’s nothing to…”

“Did Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie tell them about this business..?”

Her mother froze at this statement, starting at her daughter in shock. “Penita…! Why would you say such a thing?”

Penny furrowed her eyes slightly. “Just answer my question, mom.”

The woman drew in a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “N-No, they did not. I have no idea what you are talking about.” She raised her head up a little. “And quite frankly, I’m not liking your attitude right now. Just what are you trying to insinuate.” She leaned in a little closer. “Are you trying to suggest that…..I killed Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie?”

The silence that followed that question was tense and rigid. The two woman stared intently at each other. The seconds ticked by loudly, the echoes ringing through their skulls. None of them could move and their breathing had almost stopped completely. The silence was turning into a loud drum, banging against their skulls nonstop.

Penny could feel her mother’s accusing stare striking against her heart. She could sense a bit of hurt about her aura as well, a clear indication that her mother was shocked that she would even suggest such a thing. Penny felt a tinge of guilt, but something still drew her to this point. She wasn’t sure what it was. But whatever it was, it was keeping her frozen in place, unable to move or breathe.

It was her mother who finally broke the silence. The woman stood up straight from her chair, holding her papers to herself. Her narrowed eyes remained on her, the same tenseness circulating around her entire being. “Perhaps you should leave and….get some rest.”

Penny glared back at her. “Yes, perhaps I should.”

Penny stared at her mother for a moment before standing and walking away.

sss

“So you have learned your lesson?”

“Yes, my queen.”

“You’re not going to try to pull shit like that again?”

“No.”

“And that includes…?”

“Yes. He has promised not to do anything, either.”

“Good.”

Penny gave a smile, her arms folding against herself, as he stared at the zoner before her. She was glad to see that King Skrawl had come around faster than she had expected. He did seem more sincere this time. Or more specifically, he sounded frightened. He must be aware of what might happen to him if he turned out to be lying.

Well that’s good. Now she didn’t need to worry about having to teach him another lesson. She would still make sure to keep a better eye on him. In fact, she had gone and set up some better cameras for the castle, including some for the room where Rudy was kept. That way, she could keep a closer eye on what’s going on and make it harder for Skrawl to try to sneak around, doing stuff like this.

But she knew that he would eventually try again. He might wait until this blows over and strike when she was most relaxed. She was not going to give him that chance. Because if he dared try again, she had made it clear to him that she was not afraid to just simply kill him.

After all, she had already gotten rid of a large chunk of those annoying zoners in one strike.

Penny was no longer as shaken about the action. Sure, it was a shock to her system at first. Sure some of her emotions were still swirling around inside of her head and she felt a little sick to her stomach. But it wasn’t enough to really deter her all that much. In the end, she realized that she had done the best thing possible in protecting her position and herself. Now that the zoners saw that she was more unhinged and more willing to go the extra mile, they weren’t going to try to lay a hand on her.

Speaking of the zoners…

“Do you have the meeting place set up?” Penny asked Skrawl, furrowing her eyes deeply. “Is it ready for use again?”

Skrawl stammered, “I-I don’t know what you’re…”

“Oh that’s right, I didn’t tell you. But here, let me go ahead and fill you in. It shouldn’t take too long. Then once we’re on the same page, we can begin to set things up.” Penny moved in closer, noticing how Skrawl was cringing slightly from her. Good, he was finally learning some respect. Hopefully he will make this easier for her. “Now as for what I want you to do…”

“You want to spread the news to the other zoners..?” Skrawl asked carefully.

Penny gave an affirmative nod. “Or more like, making sure that they fully understand. I know those zoners who fled are going to spin their own tale. I want to make sure that the truth is known.

Skrawl slowly turned his head away a little. “I see… And just how do you plan on doing that?”

“With this meeting, of course.”

“What if they don’t believe your story?”

“I’m not concerned. Convincing them of that isn’t my major point. Them knowing that things are changing again is something they should know.”

Penny let her face stretch its smile broadly as she moved her arm forward to lightly tap against Skrawl’s side. She listened to him flinch in pain as he hissed sharply, his eyes shutting tightly and releasing a small cry or two. A little reminder to him that he needed to remain submissive to her….or else.

Soon she stopped and she turned her back to him. She looked behind him and motioned for him to follow her. Skrawl hesitated only for a moment. It only took the sight of the magic chalk for him to quickly respond, rushing over to her as soon as he could. Once he was about two feet behind her, that’s when Penny started to walk slowly, heading right back into town.

“I will explain when we get there.” Penny stated before going silent. She folded her arms behind her back and she began to make her way towards her destination.

As she went, she tried to think of how she was going to make the speech. She also wondered just how she was even going to get the zoners there. It would be such a difficult task. Most zoners would not want to have anything to do with her. They were already skeptical of her before and distrustful. But after her...stunt, she imagined that this would get a lot worse. That was why she had to make some changes in order to make things easier for herself. She was certain that the zoners would understand...to some degree, anyway.

Penny lifted her head up higher as she entered the city. There were not many zoners out right now. The ones that were either shuddered in the sight of her, or glared at her. She could hear the sound of mourning, zoners crying softly. No doubt they had just received word of what had happened to their loved ones. She ignored the occasional insult tossed at her as she made her way towards the center of the city.

Looking around, it would seem that she wouldn’t need to coax the zoners into coming. There were some here already. More than she thought. But these zoners were clearly not here to listen to her. She noticed the furious expressions on their faces. She even noticed that some were already hurt, likely victims of her previous attack. Penny would try to ensure that she didn’t go that nuts again, but if these zoners prove to be problematic, then…

Pushing that thought aside for now, she motioned for Skrawl to head up on the stage with her. It was a bit weird coming back here so soon. She could still remember how the zoners attacked her. But would it happen again? Likely not. These zoners did remember what happened the last time they tried that. A dark smirk etched upon her face at this.

It didn’t take as long as she thought she would. She already up on the podium, already having explained things to King Skrawl, instructing him on what she was going to do and what he was going to do. She didn’t need to be too forceful with him. He knew the consequences of disobeying her. It must have been painful for him to do, but he was already by her side at the podium, his head lowered to show that he was now conceding to her.

For a brief moment, Penny wondered if she should do something about Craniac. She then shrugged the thought out of her mind. She could deal with him later. For now, it was time for her to address these zoners, and give them the update that she knew that they wanted, even if reluctantly.

“So I’m sure you’ve all became aware of the unfortunate event that happened yesterday. It was unplanned for and I do hope that you all work with me to prevent it from happening again.” Penny said as she began her speech. The zoners simply glared at her, but she could tell, from their rigidness, that most of them were too afraid to try to say anything against her. She continued, “The cause of the event was that some of the zoners had tried to….attack me, and as such, they were swiftly punished. They brought down my hand...but if you all are willing to cooperate with me, I can promise that this sort of thing won’t happen again.”

Penny didn’t really expect to hear many sounds of agreement. Sure enough, the zoners were silent, glaring at her like she was plotting their doom or something. They just didn’t understand the situation like she did. She did still have a feeling that they were going to listen to her eventually. It just might take a little bit of time.

“I am being forced to crack down on my own rules and introduce a new set of firmer, but still fair rules. So long as these rules are followed, none of you have anything to worry about. These rules are designed to prevent another mishap like this from happening again.”

One of the zoners, whom appeared to be one of the injured survivors, growled at this, “Oh I am sure this will make things so much better…” He hissed in pain, clutching at his arm that appeared to have a small black mark on it, his tail swishing in irritation. He shot a glare up at Penny and continued, “How the hell are we supposed to t-t-trust you?!”

The other zoners expressed their agreement to the zoner’s statement. They started to ask Penny the same thing. Questions, but more rhetorical, clearly not expecting a reply. They just wanted to round up on her a little. They only became silent when Skrawl intervened.

“Silence!” Skrawl’s voice echoed heavily, causing them all to cringe in irritation, covering their ears. “Your queen is not yet done speaking to you! You will all show her respect! She is trying to be merciful with you! She…”

“King Skrawl, that’s enough.” Penny motioned her hand towards the jellybean zoner, making him silence himself. She had little reason to think he was being too genuine with those words. He was probably just trying to stay on her good side, but he ended up sounding pathetic in the process. “I want to hear what they have to say.”

Skrawl stared at her for a few moments before leaning away from her. “If you say so….Chalk Queen..”

Penny swung her head in the direction of the crowd of zoners. She nodded her head once, allowing them to proceed.

“You were the one who killed many of us! How can we trust you to come up with a new set of ‘fair’ rules?”

“You’re probably just going to use these ‘rules’ to maintain control over us!”

“You killed Rudy! There’s no reason why we should follow someone like you!”

“The Great Creator would never have done anything like this! What makes you think that you’re somehow a better protector than he was?!”

“Step down! We do not wish to follow you any longer!”

Penny narrowed her eyes at that last statement. She felt something clench in her chest and she slowly licked her lips. That might end up creating a problem… And it was for that reason that she was glad that she thought of calling this meeting in the first place. She raised her hands up and tapped her fingers together slowly. With her eyes remaining on that particular zoner who had spoken out, she spoke in a soft voice, “Would you much rather go back to how things were? When the lot of you had no kind of order? When you were so decentralized that you were basically out of order, running wild?”

The zoners glared at her, but she did not allow them to try to continue speaking.

Her voice slicing through the air, she said, “Don’t look at me like that. You all know exactly what I’m talking about. Even after your precious king was released, you still act like you’ve got no central ground of order or leader. And it was through this that criminals were allowed to propagate!” Penny took in a few breaths before she said, “Well I am going to put an end to this.”

She paused to take a moment to look at the zoners around her. She could see how they were glaring at her, showing little signs of trusting her. But that didn’t matter much to her. They weren’t the ones with the magic chalk. She was. And as a result, it was she who got to make the rules. If the zoners didn’t like it, well tough.”

“You all might not act like it, but you should appreciate that you now have some kind of ruler that can bring some...civility back to this world.” Penny placed her hands firmly against the podium and leaned in closer. She kept an aura of tenseness about her, a way of trying to deter any future attacks from these zoners. “If you follow these rules of mine, I promise you… things will start to get better. We can learn to start to interact with each other with less...hostility between each other.” Penny let her body relax just slightly, a smile curling up along her face. “Now why don’t I read you all the new rules? I do hope that you do still find these rules fair. If not, well… I’m sure you’ll grow into them. Just give them sometime.”

And thus, Penny began to read the new set of rules to the zoners. A part of her did realize that they would not fully agree and they might even call some of the rules too harsh. They would want her to go back to loosening things up and letting them do whatever the hell that they wanted to.

But tough luck for them. Things were not going to go back to how they were in the past. Because it was because of that looseness the zoners seemed to have that caused or at least helped breed some of its past issues.

No more of that.

sss

There, the deed had been done. It wasn’t as easy as she thought it would be. Perhaps she wasn’t as decensitized as she had been claimed to me. But there was no turning back and she had to do what was necessary.

Penny stared down at the still form of the monkey-like zoner. He had taken a while before he would stop thrashing about. Now he was just still like he was nothing more than a doll that she had found.

Or more specifically, a dead body.

She furrowed her eyes deeply at this. She hadn’t expected to have to do this so fast. She had made the rules clear to the zoners. The tightened up, hard-clad rules were put in place for a reason. Yes it was true that the rules were mostly for her benefit to make it easier to rule. But the zoner would benefit from them too of they were to just give them a chance.

But instead, some idiot decided to already test the rules’ boundaries. Penny let out a small sigh and shook her head. It was an unfortunate thing she had to do. But she didn’t have much of another choice on the matter, now did she? But she would still follow through with her own rules and report this to the zoner’s friends. She already knew what they were going to say. She still planned on going through with it anyway. It was only fair, right?

The new rules in place largely revolved around zoner behavior. Certain things were banned while other things received more tighter control than they already did. The most obvious was that zoners had to show her the utmost respect, and this included when she was not even around. Any sign of dissent, any sign that there was an uprising, she would deal with them swiftly and harshly, usually killing the leader and punishing those that followed. This seemed affective enough as she had seen a drop in rebellious behavior, more so than when she was trying to be nicer.

She also had the zoners’ lives, day to day, more under control, instructing them on certain ways to behave and what to do. No longer could the zoners just be ‘free spirits’ and do almost anything that they wanted. Behaviors like mobbing another zoner like they did to Snap that one time or attempting to control the other zoners was now punishable by death much like with trying to lead a rebellion against the queen.

While she was aware of how strict these rules were, and while she was aware that she was the one who reaped the most benefit as it was a way to secure herself, she still honestly believed that it was for the zoners’ own good. They had been needing a stronger structure of rules and she needed to make sure that dangerous behavior was prohibited. Killing zoners that disobeyed these rules might seem going too far, but she felt it was the best way to let the zoners know that she was serious. Thanks to that incident with the atom destroyer, she didn’t feel much hesitation with taking a zoner’s life. This had led to these rules, which she felt were an improvement over the old ones.

Although she was aware that some of the zoners would still try to rebel against her at some point… It was only a matter of time. But perhaps the zoners would be more likely to convince each other to obey her law. She imagined that their own personal safety was still something they cared so much about. Yeah, if they really did care about each other, they would listen.

Penny grabbed onto the arm of the dead zoner and lifted him up from the ground. She could see that his body was already tightening up as rigor mortis was setting in. She noticed how his neck flopped a little, showing that she had broken it herself, the cause of his death. She curled her lip up into a snarl as she could detect the odor now coming from his body. She should get rid of the body as soon as possible.

But she would still need to inform the zoner’s family first. This was to for transparency purposes; if the zoners knew what she did, then they would have less room to spread rumors, right? With the zoner’s body dragging along behind her like a bag of trash, Penny started to make her way into the city.

sss

“I can’t believe you just did that!” Rudy cried out in shock, his eyes widened in horror. “H-How could you have…”

“It was part of my rules. It needed to be done.” Penny stated. Her voice was firm and solid, showing no signs of flexibility. “Do not treat me like I did a bad thing, Rudy. I did release the rules prior to what this idiot tried to do. At least I had the decency of telling his friends.”

Rudy could feel many emotions swirling around inside of his head as he tried to make sense of what was going on, this situation. He could feel his breathing increasing a little, his mouth opened up wide and panting breaths in and out swiftly. He could feel Penny’s glare on him and he could feel her coldness simmering through his body in a bizarre but still painful manner.

Rudy just...had no words that could explain what he was feeling right now. The idea of Penny becoming even more of a dictator than before… He swallowed hard at this, feeling his body trembling. If Penny wasn’t gone before, she certainly was now. The Penny that he knew in the past would never have acted like this. But now he was being faced with someone who looked like Penny, but certainly did not act like her.

Penny had kept trying to tell him that this was the only fair way of ensuring everyone's safety. Penny kept telling him repeatedly that the zoners were a wild bunch that had been living lawless for years, even before he himself had stepped into that world. She insisted that all she was doing was giving the zoners some sense of law stability, even if it was a sudden change from what they were used to. She said that it was for everyone’s own good.

But Rudy hardly bought that. He still regarded it as just a way for Penny to gain much more complete control over the zoners and demolish any sort of resistance against her. This caused the boy’s heart to sting with anxiety. He had hoped that one day, the zoners would be able to free themselves from this tyrant, but now, with these laws in place, with a more robust surveillance system taking over the old one, he realized that the chances of that were slim to none. Heck, she was even going to go after zoners who just merely talk about the idea of wanting to go up against her. She was being very thorough in her methods, ensuring that there was no zoner left who would want to fight her.

How could she even think that this was good for the zoners? Living in fear like that? The zoners should not be put through something like this. Penny had no right to try to dictate how they should live. But any time he tried to argue back, Penny would just shoot him down. He couldn’t think of a single argument against a total dictatorship that Penny hadn’t refuted. He eventually stopped trying.

That didn’t mean that he agreed with her, and as he glared at her, he made sure that she was fully aware of his stance against her.

But would she decide to take care of him due to his dissent?

Penny’s chuckling caught his attention and he watched as Penny shook her head slowly, smiling lightly. “Oh little Rudy, I know this isn’t how you would have wanted things. You would want to let the zoners prance around like idiots because that’s how it was always done and things were ‘okay’ back then. That’s what you’re thinking of, right?”

Rudy simply growled at her, refusing to answer.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Penny looked down at her hand, flexing her fingers, and then she reached over and started to caress Rudy’s cheek. “Sadly, that is not the way things tend to work. Sometimes, you do have to be tough in order to secure the safety of as many people as possible. You know that I’m right on this. You, too, had wanted to protect all of those zoners.” She motioned her hand outward. “I know my method isn’t how you would have gone about it. But your method still allowed for criminals to come into existence, to spread chaos and whatever else. My method would make it harder for such people to arise. Shouldn’t that be worth something?”

“If your method of protecting the people is stripping away their rights and their sense of freedom, then it doesn’t matter how safe your world is, it’s not going to be worth it in the end.” Rudy was a little shaky with his response. But he hoped that he was able to get the message across well enough.

And it appeared that he had, given how Penny’s wide eyes was now staring at him. It didn’t last long, but it seemed enough to tell him that Penny was aware that she might be going too far with this. The fact that, even in spite of that realization, she was still doing it was absolutely disgusting.

“And don’t think you’re exempt from the rules, either. Not that I expect you to be able to do...much at the moment.” Penny spoke. “Since you no longer have that magic chalk piece that Skrawl gave you…”

Rudy flinched at this. He felt like such an idiot for not taking advantage of that when he could. Now he lost his one chance of getting out of here. The realization weighed heavily on his mind. He wished that he had tried harder to get away.

But that hadn’t been the only drawback. Turns out, because he even had the chalk at all, Penny had gotten suspicious of him, which was why the rules pertained to him as well. Now he faced the penalty of death just like the other zoners. He wanted to think that she would hold back for him, but he doubted it.

Rudy let out a small, faint, nearly inaudible growl as he turned his head to one side. “Well gee, aren’t I ‘lucky’ then?” He turned his head slightly so that one of his eyes could stare at Penny. “At least you’re being consistent.”

Penny didn’t answer him, not that Rudy minded. She was probably lost in her own thoughts, congratulating herself on what she has done, or maybe trying to figure out more ways that she could implement this. Either way, he just wanted her to go away for now. The longer that she remained here, the more he could feel himself burning up inside, increasingly getting hotter. But there was still a pang of icy sensations that prevented him from trying to make Penny leave.

And it wasn’t like he could do much, anyway. Penny had already had the rules take effect immediately, and she had already told the zoners about this. She wasn’t going to change them just because of what one person said, especially when that person was supposed to be her prisoner. So Rudy was more or less helpless to do anything to help the zoners. His only chance, the magic chalk that Skrawl had had given him several days ago, was gone, leaving him with absolutely nothing. He clenched his teeth tightly and hissed. He should have tried something back then when he had the chance to.

His thoughts were partially interrupted when he could feel a sharp sting in his stomach. He put his hand on it and groaned loudly, his body bending forward. He could feel the sensation snaking up his side, slicing into him like someone was putting a knife into his body to carve him up. Rudy seethed through his clenched teeth as he tried to push back the pain.

“I do think that eventually you will…. What is wrong with you now?”

Rudy lifted his head to give Penny and upwards stare. “Why….do you care…?”

Penny put her hand on her hip and scoffed, “You’re my guest here. Isn’t that good enough reason?”

Rudy continued to glare at her. “Y-You probably w-w-want me to be in tip top shape so that you can continue…”

“Nonsense! Stop being so irrational!” Penny moved in closer to Rudy. The boy’s response to this was to twist his body away from her, holding is side protectively. Penny let out a groan. “Don’t make this difficult for me. Either you let me look at it willingly, or I will force you to consent.”

Rudy still didn’t respond, despite the fact that he was pretty nervous on what Penny was actually going to do if he didn’t let up. As she made her move towards him, he was about to find out anyway.

Rudy’s eyes were filled to the brim with pain when Penny grabbed against his thigh. Despite the brace being there, it didn’t protect against pain caused by pressure. All Penny had to do was ball her hand up into a fist and strike down on top of his thigh. This combined with her grabbing and pressing her fingers against the skin was more than enough to incapacitate Rudy in a sea of pain and agony. With tears flowing down his cheeks, Rudy felt himself drop down onto his painless side, unwillingly exposing his other side to Penny.

All Rudy could do now was tense up as he allowed Penny to do her thing. The buzzing, shocking pain in his leg started to dissipate as he laid there, letting Penny’s fingers move down to lift up his shirt, granting her access to the area on his side and chest that had been hurting him. Feeling her cold skin against his made him jump a few times, but he nonetheless held still to let Penny do her examination.

“Hmm I see there’s some swelling there. Perhaps this hadn’t been healing as well as I thought.” Penny said softly.

“No duh..” Rudy grumbled under his breath. He raised his voice up slightly as he turned to glare at her. “When are you going to just let me go to a Real World hospital? They would know more what to do than you do.”

“Unfortunately, that’s not going to work.” Penny stated. “You need to remain here.”

“Why?!”

“...for your own good.”

Rudy growled at this, but he could say nothing in response. At this moment, it seemed doubtful that Penny was going to change her mind any time soon. He was just going to have to remain here for now. Maybe if he collapsed unconscious, she will take him to the Real World.

Hah, what a joke.

Penny headed off in one direction. Rudy didn’t bother watching her. He could already hear the sound of something clanging and he realized that it was a small bottle, then some sloshing and he knew that it was a bottle of water. It didn’t take much of a genius to know what Penny was going to try to do.

“This medicine should help with the swelling somewhat. It’s not the best, but it will have to do.” Penny had already poured two pills in her hand and, with the water bottle grasped into her fingers, she headed back to Rudy. “Take them. I trust you can do that without my assistance, right?”

Rudy scowled at her, but managed to keep himself silent. There wasn’t really a choice in the matter, was there? He let out a small sigh as he stared at the pills that now laid in his hand. Seeing no choice, he pushed the pills into his mouth and let the water now rush in. He forced himself to swallow and he could feel the pills forcing their way down along his throat. When he was able to take a breath, he turned to glare at Penny and said one thing.

“Are you happy now?”

Penny gave a small smile at this. “Yes, I am.”

sss

“Pay close attention, residents of the Future Dome! This is what will happen if you try to plot against me! I do hope that this sends a loud enough message to all of you!” Penny shouted as she stood on the tall platform. In one of her hands, she gripped Craniac’s arm tightly, letting him dangle beside her. “His fate could become yours!”

Craniac attempted to struggle, but his body could hardly move. The ice that she used to partially freeze him was doing wonders in preventing him from struggling too much. That made it so much easier for her to keep him under control for what needed to be done.

Penny could see the zoners that had gathered around to witness the event. She could see their horrified yet curious expressions, as though their mind’s circuits were not allowing them to do much of anything else. Attempts to try to pull away were met with either resistance or just the inability to move. Penny was glad for this, as the more people who witnessed this, the more the word will spread and the more that the zoners would now she was no longer fooling around.

“W-Wait, my queen! I t-t-told you I wouldn’t try to…” Craniac shouted, attempting to plead with Penny. Not like it was going to work, but it was musing to see him even try such a thing.

“Oh I know you did. But this is the only way to be sure.” Penny spoke, her voice somewhat nonchalant. “I know I can just simply keep an eye on you like I can with Skraw. But...weren’t you the brains of that operation? Weren’t you the one who gave Skrawl some of those ideas?” Penny pulled Craniac towards her, narrowing her eyes further. “And you also have access to the cameras as well and you control the enforcers. I need to make sure that you don’t try anything funny. What better way than this?”

“B-B-But this is going too far!” Craniac wailed. To the best of his ability, the reddish robot still tried to struggle. Penny could hear a few clanking sounds from the ice being chipped away as he struggled. But it wasn’t good enough to give him much headway in getting free. “Please, this can’t… Th-There’s got to be another way!”

Penny thought about this for a moment. She tapped her finger lightly against her chin, turning her gaze up thoughtfully. Then she looked down at Craniac and held her hand up to one side. “Perhaps there is a way, but...no, this will do just fine.”

Craniac’s robotic face registered as much fear as it could allow. “B-But..”

“Oh don’t worry. You will be fine after this.” Penny chortled. “It might just...sting a little…”

“Wait, no, please!”

Penny didn’t bother listening to the zoner any longer. Leveraging him over the edge, letting him dangle, she let her grip on him start to loosen up a little. She made sure that the zoners could get a nice, long look at what she was doing, ensuring that none of them would not see this. With a smile on her face, she let the robot zoner go…

...and down he fell towards the encased glass dome filled with electrical spikes and blocks, the yellow and blue jolts moving everywhere, sparking loudly. It hadn’t taken long for Craniac to get inside of hit and his loud, robotic-like screams filled the air. Penny flinched a little but managed to handle the cries as she turned to watch the zoners’ reactions to what was happening to their precious leader.

The looks of horror on their faces were not hard to miss. Many were raising their hands up and covering their mouths, and a few looked like they were even shedding sparking tears, as they saw what was going on with Craniac. Penny smiled as this was exactly the type of response that she wanted. She could be sure that they were going to remember this for a while to come.

Turning her head to watch Cranaic, she could see the zoner still hitting against the electrical currents. He was screaming in agony still, his voice distorting sharply. The currents raged through his body, causing many parts to start to rupture and scratch against his metal form. He looked like some kind of Christmas ornament with all the flashes of color that he was relinquishing. If this had been done for a more decorative purpose, Penny could see the zoners actually enjoying it in some way.

Finally Craniac fell to the bottom, laying there and groaning in pain. His body quivered, the ice having been broken off in a rather painful fashion. His limbs quivered as he tried to move. He slowly crawled forward through the opening, and he just collapsed against the cool ground. He didn’t attempt to look up at the Chalk Queen; he looked more relieved of just being out of there in the first place.

The other Future Dome zoners just watched him. They leaned in, holding out their hands, some calling out to Craniac softly. They expressed a series of horrified faces as they saw Craniac suddenly bursting into sharp sparks of static electricity, causing his body to twist almost violently upon the ground. He did eventually stop, letting out a series of small whimpers. Then they turned to stare at Penny.

The Chalk Queen stood there with her arms folded against her chest, her scarf swaying slightly to her movements. She turned her head down, her glasses glinting in a menacing fashion as she stared at the zoners. “Do any of you want to take the same ride as him…?”

She smiled when none of the zoners dared to respond.


	25. Speak Of The Devil

There was little that could be used to determine just how much time had passed. Even with these marks on the ground that he now struggled to keep up with, Rudy didn’t know precisely how long it’s been since the new laws were implemented.

And he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know.

It was hard for him to imagine just how hard things were for the zoners as they tried to adjust to this new kind of life. It was more restrictive than it had ever been before, or at least, that’s the notion that he got from Penny’s description. All Rudy could do was lay there and wonder what was going on with the zoners. He hadn’t been able to see anything for himself. That one that he had gotten out was the first time in a long time that he’s even seen the chalk sun in the sky. And now…

Rudy sucked his lip into his mouth and carefully bit it. There wasn’t much that he could do about the situation. He knew this for a fact. The realization dawned on him heavily and he started to feel increasingly sick. He hated the fact that there wasn’t anything that he could do to help the zoners. But at this point, was there anything that he could even do? Would he be able to stand up to the Chalk Queen?

Probably not, and he knew this for a fact.

Rudy let out a small sigh as he laid on the ground, once more caged. It would seem that Penny was taking extra precautions with him. She had gone back to leaving him locked in the cage, chained to the ground like an animal. At least she did let him roam around while she was there, but that wasn’t much.

He couldn’t hope for another miraculous encounter with Skrawl. He was probably out there kissing Penny’s ass metaphorically speaking, in hopes of staying on her good side so that he didn’t get in deeper shit than he was already in. He likely was not going to even dare try to come down here and see him again. Not with the new tighter security that Penny had said she implemented.

Rudy ground his teeth together. He really should have used that chalk when he had the chance to. Now there was no time at all to use it and he was trapped here, unable to get out. He could feel his body shake at this realization, tears burning up against his eyes. It felt like he really had no options left and even using his saliva like he had before seemed impractical. That was when Penny had…

Rudy clutched his side at the memory, the thoughts causing a resurgence of pain echoing in his side. He seethed for a moment and slowly the pain started to subside a little. He forced himself to relax a little and soon he pressed himself against the ground, breathing in and out slowly.

Perhaps it would be better if he just gave up. What good was it going to do him to keep fighting a losing battle? Penny had more power than he could ever have. And she was not slowed down by a maimed leg, nor were her artistic skill hindered by years of not drawing. Rudy was at a severe disadvantage and there was little that he himself could do about it. He had no ability of improving his skills.

“Oh you really think so…?”

Rudy shuddered, the voice from before returning. He shut his eyes and attempted to ignore it. Just his mind trying to play cruel tricks on him.

“Why are you giving me the cold shoulder, Bucko? I only want to help.”

Rudy turned his head and of course, he could see ‘Snap’ standing not too far away. The blue and white zoner was within the cage itself, near the metal bars that kept Rudy inside. The zoner’s large, white eyes stared at him coolly, narrowed to show a level of annoyance he wasn’t used to being aimed at him by his friend.

But this was not his friend, was he? No, this was just an apparition. His brain was going bonkers, forcing him to see someone that was not really there. Yet when this happened, he could only just allow the apparition to continue to ‘play’ for him. It was like a movie that he could not shut off.

‘Snap’ tilted his head to one side, staring at Rudy intently, as though he was just a lost and confused little boy. But the small twinkle in the zoner’s eyes was enough for Rudy to realize what the actual intent was. He could see ‘Snap’ raising his rounded hand up and motioning at him directly, his whole body going tense.

“Why are you giving up so easily? You can just build up your strength and take her out when you have the chance!”

“How? She has the magic chalk, not me.”

“Steal one and fight back!”

Rudy flinched at this. He turned his head away. He didn’t even know why he was bothering to argue with an apparition. “I have been weakened. I wouldn’t know how to draw anything anymore.”

“And you’re not going to practice with how you do those marks?” said ‘Snap’ as he pointed to the ground where Rudy kept track of the days. “Why don’t you just use that? Shouldn’t that be good enough for you?”

Rudy stared at the ground near him, seeing those marks once more. He took in a few slow breaths before he looked back to ‘Snap’. “I-I don’t know…”

‘Snap’ shrugged his shoulders. “It’s up to you, Bucko. Either you practice your skills in an unconventional way, or you doom yourself to remaining Penny’s little ‘pet’ for the rest of eternity.” ‘Snap’ started to smile broadly at this remark, his facial expression growing twisted. “And you know how long that is in ChalkZone…”

Rudy gulped at this, feeling his heart skipping a beat.

sss

It was an unusual thing for Penny to be contacted by a staff member of the Plainville Mental Institution. She thought that it had to be related to how she had slapped Vinnie Raton. She thought that maybe they saw the footage and want to talk to her about it.

But she was caught by surprise when it turned out that instead, someone in the institute wanted to speak with her. She couldn’t fathom who it could possibly be. She didn’t really know anyone in the institute outside of Vinnie and…

The realization that it had been Terry Bouffant who wanted to talk to her sent all sorts of alarm bells in her head. She felt her body going a little tense and she had to force herself to calm down. She realized that by speaking to Vinnie, it was a surefire thing that Terry was going to find out later. The little bozo must have reported to Terry of the incident. Terry might have probed him for more information and now she knew, at least, that Penny visited earlier. Penny had no clue if Terry knew anything else besides that. But, having no choice, she had to head down to the building to speak with her.

It was rather strange and uncomfortable to be back here already. She kept expecting Vinnie’s grandmother to grab her by the arm and drag her to Vinnie’s room. Or at the very least, Vinnie himself standing there and folding his arms to glare at her. She got none of that, yet the tension on her shoulders just increased over time. She had little fear of getting lost as one of the staff members was guiding her to the right room. But was that any better or worse? She wasn’t sure.

Penny soon had to stop in her tracks. The staff member before her had stopped in front of one of the doors. The woman opened up the door and turned to face her. She wordlessly nodded her head and motioned her hand out towards the door, allowing Penny to go inside. Penny walked towards the door and entered and she could hear the door shutting behind her. She turned her head to glare towards the door before turning to face the only occupant in this room.

Terry Bouffant herself.

Penny could feel a whirlwind of thoughts rising up inside of her, causing coldness to spread all over, tainting the aura around her. The air itself almost tasted toxic and Penny had a hard time trying to breathe. She swallowed hard and she had to force herself to head further into the room, her eyes never leaving Terry’s gaze.

This moment was almost surreal. Despite the fact that Penny had originally planned on talking to Terry after Vinnie on that same day, this still felt so...awkward and weird. Perhaps it was because it was Terry who had dragged her out here. It was Terry who was up to something. There was a reason she went through the trouble of convincing the staff to get her to come. Penny felt her teeth grinding together as she tried to think of what that could be. There was only one possible thing.

It had to relate to ChalkZone.

“Hey there… Sanchez….” Came Terry’s soft cooing voice. She moved her hand in a slow swinging motion towards one of the nearby chairs. “Why don’t you sit down? We should have a talk. It’s been a long time since we last saw each other.”

Penny snarled, “It hasn’t been long enough…”

Terry chuckled at this. “Oh aren’t you being a little snippy today… Why be so angry?” Terry raised her arms up at her sides. “It is such a lovely day out! Or at least that’s what I was told. All I can do is look out of these windows.” Terry arched her body one way, twisting her head so that she could try to look out of the window behind her. “But I think you know as well as I do that it’s not good enough. Especially since the windows here don’t open.”

Penny rolled her eyes. “Oh please, I know you didn’t call me here to talk to me about your stupid windows.” She folded her arms against her chest and glared intently at Terry, her eyes glinting in the light. “Why don’t you explain to me why you really wanted to see me?”

Terry’s smile dropped and a look of seriousness replaced it. She and Terry stared at one another long and hard for several long moments. Penny could note a look of hatred in the woman’s eyes. Contempt practically spilled outward, oozing on the ground in an invisible manner. Penny swallowed hard but she did her best not to look intimidated by the woman’s stare.

“Yes… of course…” Terry stated. Her voice was a little deepened and a growly edge was noted on it. She pulled her head back, tilting it slightly upward. “There is something I wanted to talk to you about. I hope you didn’t think that I just wanted a friendly ‘chit chat’ with you.”

“Of course not.” Penny turned her head away. She could feel the memories of Terry’s attempts over the years to get into ChalkZone surging in her head. She had made sure Rudy was aware as well. He needed that information just in case. She did not trust Terry. “You are too busy with your deluded ‘chalk world’ beliefs to…”

Terry rushed towards Penny, forcing her to start backing up. “They are not a delusion!” The woman shouted. Her slightly greyed hair seemed to shine a bright red when she moved swiftly towards Penny. She soon seized her by the neck and pushed her up against the wall. “It’s your fault that I’ve…!” Terry suddenly stopped herself, staring up at the ceiling to the side for a bit and then releasing Penny. “Sorry about that… Shall we just...start our little talk..?” Her voice sounded clearly forced.

Penny furrowed her eyes at the woman, but soon nodded her head. “Y-Yes… Let’s do that..” Penny went over to the chair that Terry indicated for her. She sat down and adjusted her seat before turning to face Terry. Penny hissed softly, “Where did you want to start?”

sss

“So how did you find out about that?” Penny asked as her eyes furrowed deeply. She tried her best to keep steady as she didn’t want to give off the wrong vibes to the woman before her. But she could still feel how rigid that she was and she doubted that she was going to be able to calm down anytime soon.

Terry just smirked at her. In the chair that she sat in, she leaned back against it, her fingers tapping at one another slowly. She lifted her head up and stared off into the distance, the smile never fading from her face. “Oh you know Vinnie… He likes to ramble a lot.”

“I kind of figured that.” Penny grumbled under her breath. She wasn’t sure what else she was expecting, honestly.

Terry tilted her head to look back at Penny. “So now you know that I am aware of your little visit. And I hear you had a bit of a proposition…?” Her smile spread a little further. She showed a level of excitement that wasn’t present in Vinnie. “Something about letting us back into ChalkZone…?”

Penny could feel her eyes widening a little at this. She kept herself under control, drawing in slow breath after slow breath. Terry probably wanted to take her by surprise, perhaps to take advantage of the situation. Penny managed to settle herself down before it got any worse. But that did not stop the gnawing around her gut and how sickened she was starting to feel. It was in that moment that she had regretted even coming here at all.

What was she thinking? Coming here and trying to get these people’s help…? That had been a horrible idea. And it wasn’t like she even needed it any longer. Her tough attitude towards the zoners, being more willing to resort to killing, had been affective enough in lowering the zoner resistance. There wasn’t really much of a need to bring in more creators. This was a deal that she could wrap up and throw away.

But how easy would it be now? Terry had pulled her in here, and she had gotten desperate over the years. Would she attempt to pull some crap in order to get what she wanted? The thought filled Penny up with uncertainty and she licked her lips slowly, feeling a bitter taste in her throat. In that moment, she realized that she was going to have to take it easy and be careful of what she said. After all, Terry might find a way to twist things into her favor. It mattered not to her if she didn’t have as much influence as before. She could always find a way, which forced Penny to be on edge.

Terry was staring at her directly. She could feel the woman’s dark-colored eyes burrowing into her own. They were almost twins in a sense, a thought that nearly made Penny jerk back. She would never be anything like Terry.

...but didn’t she become something worse?

Penny shook the thought out of her head, not wanting to dwell on that too much. Yes, what she was doing was not the nicest thing. But she still felt she had a good point in that zoners needed some deeper level of control. They might not enjoy it right now, but in time, they would come to appreciate what she was trying to do. They just needed a bit of time to adjust, that’s all.

“Why did you want to talk to us about ChalkZone? Why were you offering us a way back when you did all that you could to keep us out?” Terry’s voice was edged with curiosity but also some bitterness, even in spite of the smile that she still wore. “I mean, you did go through all that trouble to get us arrested.” She held her hand up in gesture. “And now you’re coming crawling back to us and almost begging us to take up this offer…”

“Well I wouldn’t say I was begging…” Penny grumbled softly.

“Regardless, you still came back and you still appeared to be trying to strike a deal with us. I don’t get it, Sanchez. Why go through this trouble? I thought you didn’t want us in ChalkZone.” Terry made a quick motion with her hand and then lowered it down, staring at Penny with her brow raising up a little. “What is the purpose of all of this? What are you trying to get at?”

Penny could feel herself starting to cringe a little, growing increasingly uncomfortable. Everything around her seemed to start to solidify and she felt trapped. She felt as though she could not move or do anything to get out. All she could do was stare at this woman and swallow nervously and force out a reply. “I-I-It was a mistake… I shouldn’t have come here.”

Terry’s eyes glinted. “But you already have. Now you’ve gone and opened up a can of worms. I’m rather intrigued by what you wanted us for.” Terry motioned her hand towards herself, her fingers curling downward. “Are you having...trouble with this chalk world? I thought you said that it was a safe place..” She smiled dryly, releasing a few chuckles. “Or was that a lie?”

Penny bit her lip firmly. She rapidly shook her head and shouted, “No, it’s all fine there! I don’t need any help! I got it all under control now! I….!” Penny froze and she put her hand to her mouth once she realized what she said. She looked over at Terry and she could see how the redhead woman’s eyes lit up.

“Now…?” Terry repeated, putting special emphasis on that word. “So...I see…” She turned her head and stared at Penny intently. Her smile grew creepier by the second. “You really have been having some issues… And you came crawling to us for help..” She put her hand to herself. “What a funny world that we live in…”

Penny could feel her heart starting to race. She could sense something flowing out from Terry. An intent that was plain as day. Penny clenched her teeth tightly and she looked around the room, hoping for some kind of an escape. She could just get up and walk away and yet she could not bring herself to do such a thing. Something still had her held tightly to the ground, refusing to let her go. This was not going to be as easy as she thought.

But she still needed to figure out something. She could not just stand here and let Terry manipulate her like this. There was something that this woman clearly wanted, and it was not something that she was willing to give out on a whim. Penny should have listened to her gut feeling from the start and just never try to contact these people. She should have realized that it was just going to pull her into deeper shit. Now it was too late for her to take it back and she had to deal with the consequences that she had created.

Penny put her hands on the chair’s arms, pushing against them as she attempted to stand up. She saw Terry raising her hand up quickly, and it was enough to make her stop moving. Penny stared at Terry with wide eyes as she remained frozen in this uncomfortable position. Then when Terry lowered her hand down, Penny felt compelled to lower herself back into her previous position. She didn’t know why she did it, but something still pulled at her to do obey.

Now Penny felt herself leaning back in the chair once more, staring at Terry with uncertainty, her mouth going a little bit dry. She could feel her head aching and swirling, her teeth pressing up against each other. Something was causing her to shake and tremble and she couldn’t stop it.

And all the while, Terry was clearly enjoying it.

“Why are you giving yourself a hard time? If you needed our help, you can just ask. I mean...there must be a good reason that you would go out of your way to talk to us in the very same hell that you sent us to…” Terry’s voice shook a little, but despite that, she was under a surprising amount of control over herself. “You don’t really have much to worry about. Vinnie might have cowered out of this, but I won’t. Just go ahead. Ask me to help and I will.”

At this, all Penny could do was remain silent. This blatant invite to help, it had a suspicious overtone to it. She could see the look in Terry’s eyes and she could remember her previous efforts. Penny felt her chest stinging sharply and she could feel her stomach churning in an unsettling manner. She let her mind wander a little, searching for a solution to her unfortunate situation.

It did not take long for Penny to turn her head away sharply. She released a low growl, her lip curling up slightly. “I’ve changed my mind. I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

Terry let out a small forced sigh. “I see then.. And here I thought you had finally come to your senses. Perhaps I was wrong and you really are as stupid as you look.”

Penny swung her head in Terry’s direction, her eyes set ablaze. She opened her mouth to attempt to speak back to the woman, her vocal chords fueled for the take down...only for her to pause and shut her mouth softly. She was still boiling on the inside and she could still feel her body feeling as though it was erupting into miniature earthquakes. But by some miracle, she managed to keep herself from shouting at Terry, as she realized that would have only made things worse.

“I think it’s time that I get going…” Penny said after a few moments of utter silence. She glared intently at Terry, letting herself growl lowly to show her displeasure. “I think I wasted enough time with you.”

Terry frowned back at her. She moved closer to her and the two of them glared at each other intensely. Then Terry raised her hand up and she reached out towards Penny. The brown-haired woman flinched as she felt the older woman’s hand on her shoulder, gripping tightly to make sure that she didn’t go anywhere.

Then Terry leaned in and whispered to her softly, “Fine, go if you may wish. But mark my words, Sanchez. You haven’t seen the last of me. We will meet again. I promise…”

Penny kept glaring at the woman, baring her teeth slightly. She looked at the hand on her shoulder and then back at Terry. She jerked herself to one side, getting herself free of the woman’s touch. She adjusted her shirt and scarf a little as she glared at Terry for a few moments longer. Then she turned around and started to walk away.

She saw out of the corner of her eyes that Terry had something in her hand that she was putting in her pocket. She froze for a brief second before shrugging it off, regarding it as not important. She then continued to walk away.

She could almost feel Terry’s smile striking her in the back.

sss

A low growl emanated from his clenched, yellowed teeth, his body trembling in emotion. He turned his gaze left and right as he tried to force his emotions to remain more under control. This was for the best, he told himself over and over again. He might hate it now, but it was something that he would get used to. He just needed some time to adjust and…

Bah, what was he saying…? He would never get used to this. He was always going to hate this. He was not going to love being pushed into the ground like this, treated like he was some kind of inferior being. Yet he also knew that nothing was going to change it. He might as well get used to it.

Skrawl tried to lay down in his bed, away from the Chalk Queen and anyone else. He tried to settle himself as much as possible, to relax and just try to enjoy the rest of the day. Though enjoy it how, he didn’t know. He could still hear Penny’s threats and he could still see her face glaring at him threateningly. He recalled what she said she had done with Craniac and how the same could happen to him if he wasn’t careful. Skrawl had little elsewhere to go and he could only bow in submission to her.

Skrawl did try to reason with himself that this was the best route that he could take. He was still King Skrawl and he still held some power. He might not outrank the Chalk Queen. She might have all the final says. But that wasn’t to say that he himself was powerless. He should try to be grateful that he had any sort of power at all. He had come to slowly realize that his efforts in taking down Penny could have easily resulted in him losing everything. That had been a mistake.

Skrawl released a low growl as he placed his hand to his forehead, rubbing it up and down carefully. He could still feel the aches from the horrors that he was shown and told, twisting everything inside of him like he was some sort of living vortex. He blinked his eyes slowly and he could feel the slight burn around them. He let his teeth become bare as he exhaled forcefully. He quickly realized just how uncomfortable this was all going to be and he could feel his body shaking as a result.

He then yelped in pain when he could feel one of his teeth bothering him. Had he bit down on it too hard? Or at the wrong angle? He put his claw against it and carefully rubbed around it as he tried to find a way to ease the pain. Nothing seemed to work and then he accidentally scratched himself. He let out another yelp of pain at this and he could taste the salty blood in his mouth. He cringed as he stared down at the blood dripping towards the ground. He used his large tongue to try to lick away at the small specks of blood still lingering around his lips. Then he swallowed forcefully and released a low growl, tilting his head upwards towards the ceiling.

What was he doing right now? Wasting his time, that’s what. He should be putting his ‘kingly powers’ to go some good use. Maybe head out and do some patrolling of his own. It’s not like Penny could try to stop him. It’s not like she had control over every single little thing that he could do.

This was the one area that he still had control over. It might not be what he hoped for, but he wasn’t going to let Penny take that away from him. With his eyes narrowing into slits, Skrawl pushed himself up from the bed and dangled over the side. His body bent forward a little as he stared at the ground for a few moments, his antenna flopping down. He then started to slide off, flinching and hissing as the pain in his side surged up. After the initial few seconds, he was now standing up. He took a moment to straighten himself out a little, feeling his back snap, and then he made his way towards the door.

And then he just stopped. He didn’t know what the fuck he was doing. He didn’t know where to start. He couldn’t go see Craniac, or else he might be compelled to try something else. Most of the zoners probably weren’t trying anything stupid right now. There was not much to do except just walk around. How exciting….

But there still had to be something that he would be able to do. Perhaps visit somewhere that had been a resistance forte at one point. He raised his claw up to tap lightly against his chin, growling lowly as he pondered the idea.

Well there was something that might be worth checking out. Queen Rapsheeba did have something going on, didn’t she? Skrawl had to laugh at her name. Queen? Far from it, yet she still acted like a sort of queen to a bunch of zoners. She didn’t seem to care that Penny outranked her as the Chalk Queen.

Skrawl briefly wondered what a fight between the two might be like, only to quickly shake it out of his head. It would never happen. Still, he wondered if the ‘queen’ was up to anything nowadays. Was she still in charge of a rebellion? Was she simply giving morale to people? There was only one way to find out.

Skrawl let himself start to smile as he headed down through the castle, his arms folded behind his back. Yes, perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

sss

Skrawl had to struggle to keep himself from snarling too loudly. But he couldn’t help it. He hadn’t expected the place to look something like this. Did Rapsheeba really have no care in how things looked? Did she not give a crap about appearances? She was supposed to be a ‘queen’. Why would she…

...oh, of course. She would want to keep a low profile, right? Skrawl chuckled softly. Oh she was being so very clever, wasn’t she? Skrawl moved in a little closer, staring at the building before him with a whole new light.

Now it was making a lot more sense to him why this place looked like it was falling apart at the seams. Rotting, covered in moss, foul-smelling. There was nothing about this place that was appealing or attractive. That made it a good place for rebels to hide out. It was hard to say right now if Rapsheeba was actually helping in any rebellions right now, especially since she had been locked up for a while and likely does not want to go back to that. But she was still a prime target anyway and it wouldn’t hurt to check on her and make sure she wasn’t doing anything bad.

Skrawl made his way a little closer, trying his best to ignore the horrible smells. He looked around to see if anyone else was here. He didn’t see any signs of anyone, but he was not going to be fooled that easily. He knew that they could simply be hiding or putting up a facade of some kind. He didn’t bother calling out. That would only alert them to his presence. He instead moved closer to the shambled wooden door and leaned in, trying to listen to whatever could be going on.

Not much that he could notice right now. Not even the tiniest of a squeak. Just the air moving through slowly the broken windows, swaying the ripped cloths inside. Not much of interest was really going on.

But Skrawl knew better. He had heard the rumors. He was not as dense as some of these zoners thought that he was. With a smile inside of his head, he grabbed onto the door and slowly moved it open, just enough to peer inside. His eye darted around as he recorded the details of the room. Empty with some broken stuff on the ground and dust everywhere. It looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in a long time.

There was something that still caught his eye. Despite all that he was seeing, that dust and grime and what not, he could still tell that something was amiss. There was something at the side that looked strangely cleaned up. It was out of place here and someone had to have been taking care of it. Not something you’d notice at first glance, which was probably why this method was used. Skrawl smirked broadly as he made his way into the building slowly.

He had to be careful with his steps. He could hear his weight cracking a few splinters and he could hear a few squeaks. He didn’t know if any of the rebels could hear him. He didn’t want to take the chance of making it worse. So he slowed himself down to a painful crawl almost. It felt like it was taking forever to reach that cleaned off space. It was still better than risking getting caught too quickly.

Soon Skrawl reached the area that he wanted to. He stared at the cleaned set of boards, framed in a certain way that almost resembled some kind of a door. He furrowed his eyes a little bit as he got in a little closer. He leaned in and sniffed it, reeling from the strong odor that came off of it. He didn’t know why he did something that stupid. Why would…

He decided not to waste time thinking about it. Instead, he focused on figuring out how to open up this dang door. There had to be a mechanism into getting it open, correct? He just needed to examine things carefully and he just might find the trigger required to get what he wanted.

Skrawl put his hand on the planks of wood and moved it up and down slowly. He compared this with the...ugh...grimy planks, and he didn’t notice much of a chance that he would have expected. Well other than one surface being comparatively more pleasant to touch. Skrawl let out a low snarl as she looked at the things more closely. He made a cursory turn, tilting his head slightly, and then pulled back. He gave a small snort and grumbled softly.

They did a good job with hiding this door’s intentions at first glance. He would give them that much. They were proving to be more clever than he thought. But he wasn’t going to let this deter him for long. He was going to find out their secrets, even if he had to stay here for hours and stake out.

….that actually didn’t seem like a bad idea. If he remained here and just waited, he might find someone coming in and he could see what they are doing. That would lower the risk of himself getting caught before he had a chance to get in.

Skrawl decided that’s what he was going to do. With himself feeling a sense of pride swelling up inside of him, he made his way towards a second that he could hide in. It involved him having to hide himself behind some things that were so dirty, cobwebs were getting into his mouth and he fought not to cough them out. He then settled himself down as much as he could and he just waited for someone to arrive.

sss

It had been a while since she had done this. A part of her wondered if it was even still necessary to do it. But she knew what the answer was in the end. She couldn’t let Rudy start to build too much confidence, especially since he was one his feet little more. She still needed to maintain a level of control over him, after all.

Penny tried to think of who she was going to go about it. She didn’t know if she should use her old methods or try something new. There didn’t seem to be much of an option. It felt like she had tried everything. Yet something still drove her to do something, anything, so that Rudy didn’t get the idea to try to escape. She searched her mind rapidly as she attempted to come up with a solution. There was always a solution, right?

Of course, she could still go back to the basics. You know what they say. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

Did she need a new method?

At the moment, nothing seemed to come to her mind. But oh well. She could always think of something later. In the meantime, she could just fall back on what she already knew. Rudy already responded well to this treatment, anyway. He seemed to know when it was she that was in control and he dared not try to fight against her. That was good enough for Penny….at the moment.

And that was the thought that she carried with her as she entered the room where Rudy was locked up in. It didn’t take long for Rudy to realize that she was there and he reacted accordingly. He turned his head to stare at her in confusion and nervousness. He standing up, showing just how much he had improved over the course of a few days.

This created a mixture of emotions within the woman. On the one hand, there was a small part of her buried that was happy to see Rudy on his feet at least a little bit, while before he was just on the ground like a slump for hours. But this was overshadowed by concern of her own. If Rudy gained too much of his ability to walk, then he might start to think that he could fight against her. And if he started to fight back, then he might escape and then she might have problems happening later on.

Perhaps it should be of some comfort to her that Rudy’s movements were a little slow and shaky.

Penny walked in further into the room, keeping her eyes on Rudy. She studied him carefully to see just how far he had come with walking. He swayed a little from side to side, but otherwise, he managed to keep himself standing up. His body shook with emotion as he watched her. With how his eyes refused to move away from her, it was clear that Rudy still feared that she was going to do something to him.

Penny narrowed her eyes at this thought. Good, at least there was something keeping Rudy at bay. It would be quite something to fix if he was too overly confident. With those thoughts ringing in her head, Penny stood in front of the cage, stopping several inches away.

“You know, Rudy, it’s been a while since we’ve had our..fun.” A small grin formed on her face. “And you have been doing pretty well lately. I almost thought about skipping it entirely, but…” She tapped her finger to her chin lightly a few times. “There was that moment when you tried to escape..”

“I-I thought that you…”

“Did you think I was done with that?” Penny gave him a mock look of confusion. “Perhaps I would have, if you hadn’t kept that bit of magic chalk that you had a secret from me…” She could see Rudy’s widening expression of horror. “Oh but don’t worry! I’m not going to hurt you.” She waved her hand dismissively. “No, I just think that we should start spending some more...quality time together. Maybe that would help you think straight.” Penny bent her head back, tilting it at a weird angle. “What do you think?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Rudy scrambling to get back, moving as far away as he possibly could. He stopped just in front of the bars behind him, his body curling inward as he shook. Memories were likely flooding back in his head, recalling what had happened before. Penny smiled at this, but there was a small pang of pity. It wasn’t enough to stop her, however, and she just continued to walk in.

Rudy’s damaged leg was still giving him problems. His movements to get back were hindered, which was why it was so easy for him to fall down, forcing him to resort to curling up into a defensive ball. He kept staring at her and it almost looked like his eyes were about to roll out of their sockets. As she got closer, his teeth started to become more and more bared and he started to growl lowly. He must really be desperate.

Penny was not deterred. She lowered herself towards him, pressing against her knee right in front of the shivering young man. She then started to reach her hand out towards him, and just like usual, she started to stroke along the top of his head. She smiled down at him lightly, hiding most of her emotions underneath the skin. She moved her hand up and down gently once, then twice, and then….

Penny felt her eyes widen in shock when she saw Rudy attempt to launch an attack at her. She moved back as his hand struck out towards her, showing a level of boldness she had never seen from him before. At least, not for a long time. She stared at him, stunned by this move. Rudy had tried to strike her with his hand, his teeth clenched tightly and his eyes wide. Penny kept staring at him wide-eyed for several long moments before she started to glare at the small, quivering form below her.

“Try that again, and you will regret it…” Penny said through her clenched teeth.

Penny did not say another word as she attempted to reach her hand to touch Rudy’s hair again. She noticed how Rudy’s low growling was steady and almost increasing and how his body was bending a little. But she tried to reason with herself that Rudy wouldn’t attempt to strike at her again. Not after the warning she had given him.

But she turned out to be incorrect. Just as soon as her hand was within reach, Rudy suddenly lashed out at her and tried to bite down onto her fingers. Penny attempted to move her hand back. She wasn’t quick enough and Rudy was able to snag one of her fingers in his teeth. Waves of pain shot through her hand as Rudy’s teeth tore into her skin. Penny screeched loudly as she tried to pull her hand back. It took a sharper jerk than usual, but she was able to dislodge her finger from Rudy’s mouth.

Penny examined her hand carefully, seething heavily, her eyes going over the damage that the boy had done. There was a small tear along the side of her hand. This joined in with the pain of her still healing gashes on this limb. She licked her lip slowly as she stared back down at Rudy, glaring at him with disapproval. Rudy of course cringed back and looked up at her pleadingly. But it was already too late for him to take back the attack.

“You just love making this harder, don’t you?” Penny asked. Her voice was low and heavy. She turned her hand so that the palm was facing up. Then she started to curl her fingers inwards and out a few times, her gaze away from Rudy. “I suppose you are looking for some form of punishment, aren’t you?”

“N-No… I’m sorry…” Rudy whimpered

Penny shot him a glare, her hand tightening into a small fist. “You’re sorry? You should have thought about that before you struck at me...before you fucking bit me..”

Rudy attempted to move back. With nowhere to go, he only ended up slipping a centimeter or two away. A few tears started to form in his eyes. “P-Please..”

Penny wasn’t sure what happened in that moment. But something caused her to remember what happened in the past. She remembered that plan she had of tricking Skrawl, and how Rudy didn’t do what she wanted, and that had resulted in…. Her eyes snapped wide open at this and, with a burning rush going through her body, she suddenly lashed out against Rudy. She rammed against him and pushed him against the ground with a loud thud.

With her hands gripping his shoulders tightly, she spoke to him with bared teeth, breath seething between them. “And you’re the reason why Snap is dead!” She took in a few heavy breaths before she lifted her fist back in preparation of a strike. She held her hand steady as she shouted, “You fucking bastard!”

Rudy raised his arms up over his head to protect himself from the awaiting blow. Penny just kept her hand there, steady, shaky, winding her arm’s muscles up to prepare to attack. Then she suddenly felt a sharp pain the arm, a reminder of her past injury. Her past self-injury, that is… She staggered back a little, and her hand lowered down, her fist partially unwound. She then remained there still as she stared down at Rudy. As he looked up at her with those worried eyes, she could see something shining in his eyes.

Blue and white and…

Snap…?

Penny immediately jolted her head away, moving it back quickly so that she didn’t need to look. She covered her on eyes with her arm for a few moments before she looked back down. This time, when she stared at Rudy, she did so with a softer expression. She remained silent for a few moments, her head swirling with incoherent thoughts and emotions. Then she finally sighed and started to back away from Rudy.

She didn’t say a word as she did this, which seemed to confuse, and perhaps terrify, Rudy to some extent. Penny hardly paid attention to him as she continued on her way. She closed and locked the gate door behind her and then she just plopped down in her bed. Perhaps she had been overworking herself. Perhaps she just needed to...rest.

Yeah, that was probably all that she needed.


	26. An Unexpected Development

Skrawl growled lowly as he tried to wait still and quiet for who-knows-how-long. But he was starting to get at the end of his patience. He could feel something burning in his chest and he could feel his gut twisting and feeling a bit ill. It took frequent mentally talking to himself to make sure that he did not try to leave. He had come this far. He should be able to handle this.

But how long was it going to take for someone to get here? If that spot over there was clean, which it was, that meant that somebody had to be here. Or had he made a mistake? Was this just some random pitstop for a stranger who thought it would be fun to clean off one area in hopes of finding something? It seemed not to make too much sense. But it was still a possibility that this place really was not used for anything and that he was making a big fool out of himself for wasting so much time.

Skrawl felt his teeth pressing against each other more tightly. If that was the case, then…

He shook his head. No, he told himself. This place had to be important to somebody. Someone must have a reason for cleaning up those planks. There had to be some sort of secret there. He just needed a little more patience.

But if he stayed here too much longer, the Chalk Queen might be wondering where he was. And if he were late for too long, forcing her to come over, then she was not going to be very pleased when she found him. The thought made him cringe and he silently hoped that nothing too bad was going to happen with him.

Skrawl then thought he heard something. He couldn't tell what it was at first and he had to look around slowly. It did sound as though someone was here, or it could just be his imagination. Eventually Skrawl turned his head to the right and he could see a shadowy figure. He had to squint his eyes a little, but as the figure got closer, he soon recognized who they were.

Wasn’t that…?

It was…

Queen Rapsheeba herself was coming into this place. And alone… Wasn’t that just perfect…?

Skrawl watched intently as Rapsheeba moved quietly into the building. The fact that she was stopping and turning her head from side to side was proof to the jellybean zoner that she was hiding something. There was meaning to her coming here, something so important that she had to make sure that no one was following her. Skrawl did his best to keep silent as he waited until the right moment to make his move.

Rapsheeba, just as he had predicted, was moving towards the planks on the wall. She paused and once more looked around before she reached her hand over towards them. Skrawl leaned forward from his hiding spot and watched as she placed down a particular pattern against the wall. It had a sort of beat to it, which made sense, considering that she was a singer. Then after a few moments of putting in the ‘same beat’, she took a step back and she watched the planks intently. At first, Skrawl didn’t know what the hell she was waiting for. But a moment later, he got his answer.

The planks started to glow a bright white. Skrawl could feel his eyes widening as the light hit against his eyes, causing them to almost glow as well. Penny stared at this for several long seconds and then there was an even brighter, more concentrated light that started to crawl around the edge. It zigzagged sharply, tracing the entirety of the planks. Then there was a small ping sound and the planks faded from existence, exposing a large opening.

Skrawl remained still, staring in shock at this. He didn’t know how this mechanism was possible. The way that the opening showed up was similar to….magic chalk… But that was impossible for this. How had Rapsheeba figured out to do something like this? Or if it was not her, then who?

Skrawl shook his head and snarled softly. He was wasting enough time just standing around and doing nothing. It was now time to act. With his claws flexing, he decided to just forego the stealth and go straight for the zoner. As soon as he was out of his hiding spot, he started to rush towards Rapsheeba as quickly as he could.

The small zoner let out a squeal of fright when Skrawl grabbed her from behind. He covered her mouth and eyes with one hand and dragged her back. The planks suddenly shut off, as though either on a timer or detecting what was wrong. Skrawl growled loudly as he struggled with the little zoner, trying to force her into the ground. He was not going to miss this chance. Even when Rapsheeba tried to bite him, he still hung in there, determined to put an end to this rebellion of hers once and for all. Penny would enjoy this information once he told her and then she was going to reward him. Or at least, start to trust him better.

Skrawl forced Rapsheeba into the ground, bending her arm painfully backwards. He pushed her face against the floor and he lowered his head close. He gave her a harsh whisper against her ear. “Do not make a sound… or I will tear out your throat…”

“K-K-King S-Skrawl…? What are...you doing here…?” Squeaked Rapsheeba.

“The real question is why are you here? Are you attempting to plot another coup against the Chalk Queen?” Skrawl glared at Rapsheeba intensely with his multi-colored eyes. He could see Rapsheeba shaking her head quickly, which caused Skrawl to scoff. “Oh really now? What else could you possibly be out here for?” He motioned his hand towards the planks. “You knew the combination like the back of your hand. Sure this place means something to you.”

Rapsheeba swallowed hard, trembling. “W-Well...this is where I-I used to...w-w-well…” Rapsheeba had to stop herself to catch her breath. It really did sound like this was taking such a strain on her. “B-But it’s been converted into a hangout, that’s all!”

“So you came here to play cards?” Skrawl inquired, raising an eyebrow. “Do you honestly think that I am going to believe something like that?”

Rapsheeba shook her head. “S-Someone called me here. Sh-She said she wanted to speak to...someone...th-that knew Rudy and...Penny…”

Skrawl ignored the tone of voice that Rapsheeba used with the name ‘Penny’. Her overall words were what caught his attention. He pulled his head back and twisted it to one side, curiosity sparkling in his eyes. He blinked once, then twice, and he leaned in a little closer. “...and who would call you here..?”

Rapsheeba squirmed a little on the ground. Not to escape, but to pull something out from her pocket. She raised the piece of paper up with trembling hands and moved it close to Skrawl. “H-Here… Read it for yourself…”

Skrawl growled softly as he snagged the piece of paper from Rapsheeba. He gave her a cold stare, silently telling her that she had better not be wasting his time. He then turned his attention back to the piece of paper and started to read it, his eyes moving from side to side. It did not take him long to understand what the contents were and his eyes bulged wide open.

“Impossible…” Skrawl breathed. He then looked down at Rapsheeba, his mouth hanging open. “Where did you get this?”

sss

It had taken a while before he had fully recovered from what had happened. He could feel his body trembling and he could feel his mouth going dry from how quickly he was breathing in and out. He had dared not to move his head to see what was going on. All he could do was just remain still and hope for the best. It took him what felt like half of an hour before he realized that Penny was no longer glaring at him and he was not in any danger any longer.

Though that came as very little relief to Rudy. With his swirling mind, it was easy for him to imagine that Penny was up to something, and that she wouldn’t hesitate to try against him again. He didn’t know what exactly she would do, but he would rather not find out.

Lifting his head up and mustering up as much courage as he could, Rudy turned to look over at Penny more directly. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, her hands clamped at the sides of her face. She was staring at the ground and she looked as though she had a sort of haunted expression on her face. He didn’t know what in the world could be bothering her, and the thought of Penny being nervous about something left him feeling anxious as well. He didn’t attempt to ask, however. It was not like Penny was going to tell him anything.

Penny seemed to realize that Rudy was looking at her. She lifted her head up slightly so that she could give him a slight stare. Even though her gaze held no aggression or any indication whatsoever that she was going to attack him again, Rudy could still feel a sharp jolt of coldness shooting up and down his spine. He tried to hold his breath and keep himself silent. But he was not able to stop himself from releasing a low whimper.

Penny did little more than chuckle at him before looking away. Even when she did, Rudy could still feel the gaze upon him and he couldn’t help but shudder and curl himself up back into a ball. He felt a level of shame of having to do this, but his instincts in wanting to be safe overrode that.

Rudy forced his eyes open once more and he looked at the ground near him. He recalled what ‘Snap’ had told him earlier. His hidden thoughts that were crawling in his subconscious… Did they have a good point? Would he be able to practice drawing using the same method as he did with the marks on the ground? He had some skepticism towards the idea. And yet...it was still better than what he had been doing earlier.

Rudy let out a small groan as he lifted up one of his arms. His right one, which he had used to draw with the most. He stared at it and turned it around, examining it. He blinked slowly and when the eyelid reopened, he could see himself holding a piece of magic chalk. The image shook him and he snapped out of it, realizing that he was just hallucinating. Biting his lip, he lowered his hand back down. He would certainly love to draw again. But would he even have any way of building up enough skill to..

He shook his head, trying to knock out that negativity. He didn’t care if he was fake or not. ‘Snap’ did have a good point. He did need to do something, or else he would be trapped here for a long time. He had already been stuck here for fifteen years. Did he really want to turn that into a sixteenth year? The answer was quite obvious. With his eyes narrowing into slits, Rudy turned to stare at Penny to see if she was still watching him. When he saw that she was not, he turned his gaze towards the ground. He reached out with his hand, trembling pointer finger spread out, and placed the tip of his finger against the ground.

With his fingertip pressed to the ground, he started to scratch at it. He flinched as he heard the loud scraping sound, but he endured it, moving around slowly. It always took him a little bit to make those marks, and for him to complete this circle, it would take longer. He continued along steadily, clawing at the ground to try to make something other than a mere mark in the ground. He stopped around the twenty percentage mark to take a short break before attempting to continue.

But he wasn’t able to do much else than that. Out of nowhere, he could hear Penny releasing a loud shout, nearly causing him to jump up to his feet. He swerved his head to the side to see what was going on. And he felt a gasp leaving his mouth when he saw what was happening.

Penny had her hands clutching at her head tightly, her body twisting around left and right. She looked around at something that wasn’t there, but she was still acting like there was another being present. She looked horrified and she was shaking her head even harder, as though trying to banish the vision from her mind.

The sight of this caused Rudy’s mind to explode with thoughts of familiarity. He had the same thoughts before, of the possibility that Penny was seeing what he was seeing, or something similar. She was clearly acting like she wasn’t alone, and the sight was so unsettling, Rudy could not even think of using this moment to his advantage.

Penny was letting out a series of incoherent shouts. It was hard to tell what she was saying and Rudy could feel his fears swelling up inside of his chest the longer that this went on for. He looked at Penny with a level of confused fear that he had never given to her before, trying to think of what he should do. It was like he was locked in place, forced to do little more than just listen to this woman screech like she was being tortured.

And then it happened. Penny looked over towards him, but her eyes, rigid, made it seem as though she was following a hallucination around. She was locked onto a position right at him and, without apparently recognizing that he was even there, Penny let out a scream before charging in his direction. Rudy scrambled to get back, watching in horror as Penny closed the gap.

sss

Skrawl tried to scramble in his mind to think of what was going on. He had a hard time believing that something like this was truly possible. How could it be? After all, Penny had said she… Or was she lying about this as well?

Queen Rapsheeba was still shaking underneath him. He had been so shocked and infuriated by what she had revealed to him that he had grabbed her and shoved her against the wall. He hardly responded to her shouts and cries of pain. He didn’t care how much that he was hurting her when he squeezed her neck hard. All that he cared about was getting information out of her.

And the zoner, struggling for some kind of relief, was being forced to oblige.

“I-It’s true! I s-s-swear! The message r-r-really w-was f-f-f-from..!”

Skrawl let out a low growl and leaned in closer to Rapsheeba. He snorted against her face, letting her feel his hot breath caressing her skin. He remained like this for several long moments, breathing in and out slowly and heavily. After a little while longer, he opened his mouth up and he started to speak through his slightly clenched teeth. “So you are trying to tell me that you have been contacted by this… Terry Bouffant… human yourself and she wanted you to do this…?”

“W-W-Well it wasn’t addressed t-t-to any p-particular person…” Rapsheeba spoke shakingly. She grabbed onto Skrawl’s hand and tried to push it away. She had no luck. “She j-j-just wanted to t-t-talk to s-someone.”

Skrawl tilted his head to one side. “And you felt you would be that someone?”

Rapsheeba nodded her head quickly.

Skrawl narrowed his eyes deeply. He released a few low growls from his clenched teeth, which parted away a little bit as he started to lick along his gums a little as he pondered the zoners’ words. It didn’t take him long to pass judgment upon the zoner he was practically choking in his hand. “And you were so quick to trust her…? Had you not seen the Chalk Queen’s report?” His neck twisted almost painfully to one side. “Or do you hate her so much that you choose to ignore her reports?”

Rapsheeba swallowed hard, inhaling shakingly. “I-Is the Chalk Queen any b-b-better…?”

At this, Skrawl paused. He stared blankly at Rapsheeba as the seconds struggled to move by. He felt his body start to loosen up just slightly as she shook his head slowly. “I can’t say that…” He then tightened his grip suddenly on Rapsheeba. “But I can report to the queen about what you’re doing. I’m sure she will pr….” He paused himself for a moment. Then he said, “She’ll love to hear what your excuse is on this.”

The singer zoner’s eyes widened in horror at this. She shook her head in desperation. “W-Wait, don’t tell her! P-Please…!” She thrashed and struggled in Skrawl’s grasp. Her body twisted and squirmed to each side. Her legs kicked out wildly. She desperately dug her fingernails into Skrawl’s hand. “I-I’ll do anything!”

The jellybean zoner had to admit that he was a little intrigued by this. He was tempted to take up the offer….almost. He had to mentally slap himself back into reality, but he reminded himself of what would happen if he allowed himself to slip into this trap. If Penny found out about this…

...that was the question, wasn’t it? Would she actually find out? She did tighten the controls a little. But would she care if he just said he was watching Rapsheeba? He was more just interested what the hell she thought she was going to do with Terry’s ‘help’, anyway. He needn’t actually commit another treason against the queen herself. Just gather the information and then from there figure out what he was going to do.

A shame that he could not rely on Craniac’s help any longer. The robot zoner wasn’t interested in being part of another plot against the Chalk Queen. Not after what was done to him and the threat given to his people. Skrawl snorted at the thought. If Craniac cared about the other zoners in the Future Dome, he would at least try to do something to better protect them. Oh well, he wasn’t too concerned about that right now.

“I’m wondering something…” Skrawl loosened his grip on Rapsheeba’s neck. “Was there any other message from this human? Did she write anything else about what she was going to do? Or was that the only message?”

Rapsheeba shook her head shakingly. “Th-That was the only one… I-I am answering it b-b-because...m-maybe this’ll…” She swallowed loudly. She gave a loud hiccup that almost made it seem like she was going to choke right then and there. It took her a little while longer than he thought before he could here her finally respond with, “It’s better than doing nothing….”

Skrawl furrowed his eyes a little deeper. He let his grip on Rapsheeba relax some more until his claws slipped from her neck. Rapsheeba immediately tried to scramble back. Skrawl stopped her by putting his foot down on her stomach. He applied enough weight against her so that she couldn’t try to get away.

“That might be true… But don’t you think you’re taking this a little...too far? Terry Bouffant does not care about zoners. Why would you accept help from someone like her? She just views us as pieces of news to report. Without our consent, mind you…”

“The Ch-Chalk Qu-Queen views us as her p-p-property.” Rapsheeba’s voice was a bit more bold this time than it had been just seconds ago. That flash of boldness didn’t last long as fear registered in her eyes more directly. She cringed back a little, her eyes going big as she took in a long, deep, trembling breath. “Wh-Wh-What am I supposed to do? People here are suffering! We thought the Chalk Queen could change but….” Rapsheeba tilted her head down, tears dropping down from her face. “I-I miss Penny…” She uttered under her breath.

Skrawl was silent at this, feeling a wave of something striking him. He could hear the heartbreak in the zoner’s eyes, and how confused she was at what was happening. Skrawl would never admit it directly, but there was a small part of him that did regret at having a hand in turning Penny into what she was now. He was partially to blame for the transformation, as he had been the one to attempt to force her into that position. Perhaps if Rudy had done something to stop her….

But it was too late for that now, and even if Rudy still had the piece of chalk, he doubted that there was much that he could do. It had been years. His talent would have been drained by now. He had been a fool to think that giving Rudy chalk was going to undo what had happened.

But then again, this is how he had been granted the ability to rule over ChalkZone. So perhaps it hadn’t all been a bad thing.

Skrawl decided that he had wasted enough time just talking with Rapsheeba. It was time to start getting a move on with things. It was time to make a decision. Should he drag Rapsheeba in to the Chalk Queen to figure out a proper punishment for her? Or should he join in with this, and see if he couldn’t use Terry to his advantage as well? The second option might lead to better results, but would involve tougher decisions and be harder to maintain. It might be worth it...but…

Skrawl finally made his decision.

With his eyes remaining narrowed, his mouth opened up slowly and he started to speak through a whispery, heavy voice, lined with several emotions. “Why don’t you take me with you...to meet this...Terry Bouffant…?”

Rapsheeba just stared up at him with a confused expression.

sss

Her mind had been racing for what felt like forever. Buzzing around continuously in her head, echoing in her skull without having a place to escape into. She felt her breathing growing ragged and she felt her eyes burning with tears as she stared ahead of her. Everything felt like it was shaking and cold, no matter what she did to keep herself warm.

She couldn’t deny what was laying in front of her. It didn’t matter how many times she blinked and shook her head or pinched her skin. It wasn’t going to change the visual information that her eyes were inputting into her brain. This was not a hallucination like before. This was reality. And when that realization struck her, it felt like she had a heavy boulder lodged into her body, weighing her down.

Her stomach gave a small rumble and she could feel her own bile and stomach fluids try to crawl forward. She felt a sharp pain that nearly caused her to dump out her contents entirely. It took all of her willpower to steel herself enough to prevent this from happening. But how long was this going to last? How long would she be able to hold on without throwing up?

She imagined not long.

Penny stared ahead at Rudy’s form underneath her. She could see the blood that spilled out from his body. Her eyes couldn’t remove themselves from the gash at his side, trailing along and nearly touching his bad leg. She put her hand to her mouth, unable to believe what had happened. She tried to reason with herself that it wasn’t as bad as it looked, or that Rudy had somehow caused this to happen to himself, that it was his fault.

But that wasn’t true, as it? It was she who had attacked him. And he had not done anything to cause it. He had been in his cage, doing little more than watching her. But then something just...boiled in her head, she felt her adrenaline rushing through her body, and then….nothing. She did not remember the details of the attack itself. Just what she saw when she finally came to her senses.

Rudy on the ground, bleeding. He was still awake, but he made no screams. Just loud whimpers and he was trying to hold still. His body quaked in agony.

Penny could feel her mind swirling as she stared at him, her mouth dropping down. She rubbed her stomach carefully as thoughts continued race through her mind. She didn’t know why the hell she had done this. She felt her hands gripping at her head, pressing against her scalp, nearly digging into the skin to draw her own blood.

What was she going to do? This was the question that she was asking herself over and over again. No kind of answer was coming to her. At least, nothing all that easy. She knew there were only two options, and that was to keep him here and try to keep treating him...or she bring him back to the Real World. The second option caused her heart to clench with a mixture of emotions. She didn’t want to think of the consequences of that. But would keeping him here be any better…?

Then she could see Rudy suddenly spring to life. He had grabbed onto his side and he let out a loud, pained scream as he twisted himself to the other side. She noticed how his hand was gripping tightly at his chest, and when he let out another cry, she thought she could see some red on his mouth and…

Penny felt her heart fluttering at this. She held her breath, hesitating for several moments, and then forcing himself to move forward as quickly as she could. She dropped onto one knee next to Rudy. He seemed aware of her and he tried to squirm away from her, too terrified to speak himself. Penny ignored his actions and focused on checking him over real quick. She looked for that redness and she could see the redness on his mouth more clearly now.

She felt her heart skipping a beat when she realized that it was blood dripping out of his mouth. Her mind raced with thoughts, recalling things her mother told her about such a scenario. Could it be a little mundane? Perhaps, but the more dangerous things that it could be… It was not worth the risk.

Now it looked like she didn’t have a choice. If Rudy was bleeding internally…

Penny shook her head sharply at this. She gritted her teeth tightly, her heart thumping in her chest. She couldn’t do that. She had to do whatever she could to avoid doing that. It would just be way too risky. She...She could try to treat him herself. It might be hard, but it shouldn’t be impossible, right? She..She just needed to give it her all and it would be all right. She wasn’t about to lose someone else...because of what she did…

Penny’s first action was to unhook Rudy from the ground. With Rudy’s shakes and cries, it took a little longer than she thought. But soon she was able to get it done quickly, and the metal cuff fell to the ground. Then she scooped him up into her arms. Rudy hardly fought her. In fact, he had nearly fallen limp in her arms, as though he feared repercussions if he struggled. Penny carried him out of the cage and laid him on the bed. She made sure that he was on his back so he could breathe more easily. Then she started to survey his body, looking at the overall damage.

“Hold still…” Penny hissed to Rudy when she saw him trying to struggle still. Rudy attempted to stop moving, but there were constant jerks and sharp movements regardless. It seemed to take him forever before he could relax enough for Penny to examine him. When he was as still as he could be, Penny leaned in and gave him a closer look.

She lifted his shirt up a little to take a look at his chest first. She could see redness there and swelling. It was more prominent than it had been in the past. She realized that it must be tender to the touch, and likely had been worsened when she suddenly snapped out of control. She bit her lip firmly, and then she turned her head to the side to look at the gash on the other side.

She had no idea what caused this. She tried to search her brain for the exact memory of the incident, but it simply was not there at all. It was as if it appeared magically, but she knew otherwise. She carefully put her hand on Rudy’s side. He gave a sharp flinch and he twisted himself to one side. Penny peered in a little closer, keeping his shirt up for a better examination. She could see that the wound was still bleeding and she knew that it needed to be stopped quickly.

“Wait right here, Rudy.” Penny instructed him. “I’m...going to see if I can fix this…” She moved away from him, motioning her hands in front of herself. “Don’t try to…” Her voice trailed off before she turned and she headed away from Rudy.

It didn’t take her long to get what she felt that she needed. She pulled the supplies into her arms and she carried them back to Rudy, who was obediently remaining on the bed. She had a feeling that he was not going to like what was going to happen next. But she still needed to go through with it. She didn’t want Rudy to...die.

Biting her lip so hard that it nearly drew blood, Penny whispered to him softly, “This might hurt a little, but please hold still. I’ll...I’ll do what I can to help you feel better..okay?”

Rudy didn’t say a word, nor did he respond to her words. Penny took this as the best form of consent that Rudy could give her. She picked up a small cloth ball and some disinfectant and she lowered them towards Rudy’s side. She could hear Rudy give a sharp hiss as she went to work.

sss

Skrawl followed closely behind Rapsheeba. He kept her within his line of sight, ensuring that she didn’t attempt to run off. The little zoner might not have made the effort yet, but that did not meant that she wouldn’t try. She certainly didn’t look like she want to be around him. Well isn’t that just thought luck for her… Perhaps she should have thought this through more before she agreed to see some woman she had never met before.

Skrawl was getting a little tired of just walking around in silence, however. They were still moving down the downward tunnel, so deep that he was surprised that a skyscraper city had not been built underneath. Rapsheeba mentioned it was to ensure that there was little chance of the Chalk Queen picking up any indications of them being there. She had done a good job of that. But it would still just take a few words from him to bring that all down. And Rapsheeba was aware of this.

He finally got tired of all of the quiet. He inhaled deeply, tilting his head back slightly. He watched the wrinkled patterns of the tunnel above him, noticing how it sparkled, and then he turned his attention to Rapsheeba and said, “So how is she going to get in here, anyway?”

“I imagine she...got a hold of some magic chalk somehow.” Rapsheeba responded in a quiet voice.

Skrawl frowned at this. “And how would she have been able to do that? It’s not like the Chalk Queen would have permitted her to have any.”

Rapsheeba gave him a backwards stare. “Yes, I’m aware of that.”

Tilting his head to one side, Skrawl said, “Then how would she have gotten any chalk?”

Rapsheeba shrugged her shoulders. “I wouldn’t know. I guess we can find out when we go to meet her.” She turned her head around so that she was now facing forwards once more. She drew in a trembling breath and it sounded like she was feeling a little ill. “Truth be told… I am nervous about this.”

“Then why did you decide to come and greet her?”

“...because I felt if I didn’t...someone else might, and if it were a trap…”

Skrawl slowly nodded his head at this, remaining silent. Suddenly, Queen Rapsheeba’s apparent recklessness wasn’t so much that after all; it was just a precaution to ensure that nobody else got hurt. That was pretty noble of her. And so very predictable. He would expect nothing less from this particular zoner.

But they would have to wait and see how this meeting goes. Neither of them knew what to expect. Skrawl himself felt some uneasiness about the whole thing and he wondered if he should even be trying to do this. Perhaps he should try to….

He jolted a little when Rapsheeba suddenly stopped. He looked around as he tried to figure out just what caused her to stop. He didn’t see anything apparent. He looked back down at Rapsheeba, blinking his eyes slowly as he watched what she was doing. Rapsheeba didn’t seem to be doing anything at first. Skrawl had to take another step closer and lean forward, and soon he could see that her hands were moving slightly. Such a bizarre set of movements she was putting her hands through.

“What are you…”

He didn’t get a chance to finish when there was a sudden flash of light in front of him. He jumped back, his feet actually leaving the ground. He stared like this for a few seconds before turning and staring down at Rapsheeba with widened eyes.

The singer zoner merely shrugged. “A safety precaution.”

Skrawl remained still and silent, attempting to respond. He eventually quit and just resumed following close behind Rapsheeba as she took him into a large, cavernous area. Skrawl could feel himself being stricken with a sense almost like wonder as he looked around, taking in the sights all around him.

This place was absolutely huge. He kept trying to turn around and looking at it, but he felt as though he couldn’t fit in everything with a single swing of his gaze. That’s how big this place felt to him. He could feel his neck aching as he tried to look at whatever that he could, his eyes straining just slightly. He couldn’t help but wonder just how the Chalk Queen had missed this thing entirely, and why the hell it wasn’t still used for rebellion. Rapsheeba said it was repurposed for something different. But with a place like this…

It was like a small city down here. It was nowhere as big as ChalkZone City. In fact, it was more like a small village than a town. But it was still larger than Skrawl thought it would be. It looked like almost all important amenities were down here. There were plenty of buildings for homes so zoners could actually live here if they wanted to. And there were various other buildings for entertainment and necessities. It was almost like a bomb shelter, like Rapsheeba had been preparing for... 

Skrawl’s thoughts trailed off at this, feeling his body going slightly rigid. Was that what this was about? Was Rapsheeba…. He stopped his thoughts again and just proceeded to follow Rapsheeba as they traversed through the village. Skrawl tried his best not to look at anything around here, trying not to feel unsettled by how empty this place was, or how what very few, scarce zoners that there were stared at him with an accusing expression.

Eventually, Rapsheeba took him up to a tall tower that remained in the middle of the village. Not a water tower, but what looked to be a surveying post, or a communications thing. It was hard to tell and Skrawl didn’t want to ask about it. He just wanted to get this done and over with. He remained silent as he followed Rapsheeba up the tower, his claws clanging against the metal bars as they went up. It was about half way when Skrawl suddenly froze. A realization had just dawned on him.

“How do you know that this is where Terry wants to meet you?” He paused for a moment, then said, “Or whatever zoner?”

Rapsheeba remained silent for a few moments. She then turned her head and looked down towards him. He could see the corner of her eye and he could almost feel something surging in his mind when she said, “...she left coordinates.”

Skrawl blinked a few times as he registered this bit of information. Did Terry really know enough about ChalkZone to.. Or was this just a lucky guess? And was this another reason why Rapsheeba took on this challenge? To ensure that the remaining zoner hiding in here weren’t hurt? Had the reason been even deeper and more personal than he realized?

Skrawl growled inwardly. What did it matter to him? So long as he got what he wanted, nothing else mattered. Why the hell should he concern himself with Rapsheeba and the reasons for why she was doing this? He needed to focus on what he was going to do whenever he actually met up with this woman. He realized that she was coming in with magic chalk and if he made one wrong move…

Well, they were going to be on top of a tower, weren’t they?

Skrawl continued his way up and it didn’t seem to take long before they were both standing up on top of the tower’s platform. It was pretty large in size and was more than enough to hold him and Rapsheeba up. They were quite the way up and Skrawl guessed that they were closer to the underneath of ChalkZone City’s roads and buildings than it would appear. This led him to believe that Terry Bouffant was coming in through one of the basements in the Real World. He was not sure if that was a smart move or not. You never knew what was on the other side.

But that was the same thing both ways, now wasn’t it?

He and Rapsheeba stood around on this platform in silence as they waited for the arrival of their new ‘human friend’. The waiting part was a little awkward as they had to stand near each other while they awaited for Terry to show her face here. Skrawl had some thoughts enter his mind but he decided not to act upon them, instead focusing on the more important task, which was getting ready to deal with Terry. He might not know what to do now, but eventually soon, he’ll figure it out.

It was after that thought of his finished that there was a bright light moving through the air. He and Rapsheeba froze and they waited for the bright light to finish its formation. It was located in around the middle of the platform, raised up a few feet. Soon the line of light completed and then…

“Oof!”

Skrawl and Rapsheeba took a step back when they saw a human clad in green and possessing whitened red hair drop down in a loud thud. The human gave a loud groan before picking herself up, her body covered a bit in dust. She shook her head and then she and the zoners before her locked eyes with each other. That’s when things all felt as though they became frozen in time, unable to move.

sss

She had no idea if this was going to work or not. She didn’t know if she was going to need to redo this later on or if it was going to work out just fine. The fact that her racing heart was interfering with her thought processes, filling her up with adrenaline, wasn’t helping. The only thing that she could do was continuously move forward with this, doing whatever she could to help the wounded man on her bed.

Penny was grateful that Rudy seemed to be doing better with holding still. She was glad that he recognized that there were was a time to hold still and a time to freak out. And if he freaked out now, he was only going to make things worse.

She had hurried up as fast as she could in wrapping up the boy’s injury that she had given him. It was a little hard to stop the bleeding as any light pressure caused Rudy to jerk about and try to escape. It seemed to take forever before he could settle himself down and make the work a little easier. Regardless, at least he was attempting to keep himself still and not move around too much.

She did her best in ensuring that the would was disinfected. A part of her had a feeling that the wounds were still a little dirty and it might get infected to some degree. But at least it wouldn’t be as bad as it could have been. She was hopeful that her medications were going to work. She didn’t have anything too advanced, but perhaps some of what she had would work well enough to keep Rudy from falling down too far.

Speaking of those medications, she had gotten Rudy to swallow some painkillers. They were a bit strong and she suspected that he was going to exhibit some nauseous behavior soon. But it was still better than nothing. The effects of the lowering pain were already becoming apparent. So she was doing something right, at least.

She eventually stopped and she leaned back to see what she had accomplished. She ignored the stare that Rudy was giving her as she focused on her patchwork. It would do for now. She hoped that she wouldn’t need to do anything particularly difficult. The idea of… She shook the thought out of her head as she looked down at his other injury, the old chest one that was irritated earlier.

This one...was going to be harder to treat. She wanted to still try to keep him here for treatment, but what if she could only treat him better through incision? Through surgery? She doubted that she was skilled enough to do anything. Maybe it would heal on its own? That was a pretty silly thought, she realized, and dangerous at that. But still, she…

Penny stopped when she felt something hitting against her feet. She looked down and she could see what looked to be a small piece of white stick. Lifting it up, she saw that it was magic chalk. The one that she had used earlier… Her mind flashed with some memories and she could see the blood that clung to the tip, which had been broken into a point.

The sight of this was enough to make Penny widen her eyes in shock. Had this been what was used on Rudy?

Tossing the chalk aside, she shifted her attention back to Rudy. She watched him in silence, feeling her head and chest swell with various emotions. She was not entirely sure what to think of this. She didn’t know why she felt this way in regards to someone that she was supposed to hate. She tried to remind herself of what Rudy had done and how he was responsible for Snap’s death. But that thought was overshadowed by reminders of her involvement as well. Her guilt and her desire to protect herself clashed with each other, and this contradiction was weighing her down.

There was a way out of this. There was something that she could do to stop this madness and to keep herself from making the situation worse. Something that just might also give the zoners even more of a reason to obey her.

What if she killed Rudy off...for real?

And then had it recorded in case she decided to show it to the zoners?

Penny was nearly horrified by the sick thought that now dominated her mind. She stared down at Rudy more intently, her eyes focusing mostly on his neck. She had enough strength, didn’t she? Perhaps she could choke him to death, slit his throat open, or poison him. There were a number of ways that she could quickly dispose of him. And in his weakened state, it might not take very long at all.

Penny could feel her hands reaching out slowly towards Rudy. She placed them onto his shoulders, holding him down. Rudy dared not to move. His confused expression stared into hers, clearly not knowing what was going to happen. Penny slowly moved her hands up towards his neck, and she very lightly started to apply pressure…

...only to move her hands back immediately, a wave of panic striking her. And this time, it was not because she thought she saw ‘Snap’ again.

Oh gawd, what the hell was she about to do…?

Penny gripped at her head, pressing her fingernails against her scalp. She shook it furiously a few times, feeling Rudy’s confused and scared eyes examining her from a distance. Penny pressed herself inward as though trying to curl into a ball while standing up. She released a few low growls before shaking her head again and attempting to straighten herself out. Even when she did this, she could still feel her whole body shaking, her mind racing with many thoughts. She kept asking herself questions over and over again, and as time passed, she was growing increasingly unsettled.

She realized, in that moment, she had to get away from here. She had to get away from Rudy and try to clear her mind. The longer that she remained here, the more likely she was going to do something stupid, something that she was going to regret.

Penny hardly spoke a word to Rudy, not attempting to respond to his confused cries. She just backed away from him quickly, her body shaking harder. She turned herself around and started to make her way towards the door. In her panicked state, she only remembered to lock the door. She had forgotten all about that chalk piece…

...not like Rudy would dare try to use it, right…?

sss

Despite that...interesting introduction, everything after that seemed to run a little smoothly. Well about as smoothly as you would expect when interacting with another species that appeared out of nowhere, anyway. Skrawl had many questions that he wanted to ask, and he felt as though things were moving too fast. This was almost too convenient. But he was aware that there were times when things happened that felt too convenient, so perhaps this made sense.

Skrawl wasn’t sure how long it took for them all to get settled. Seeing Terry pop into here out of seemingly nowhere did startle him and Rapsheeba, and the feeling, the prospect, if another adult human in ChalkZone felt strange. Especially a human that was much older than Rudy or Penny. He didn’t even know what this woman wanted nor if she should be trusted or not. He was fully prepared to do something about her just in case. If he knocked her hard and quickly enough, he might be able to kill her via knocking her down from here.

For the time being, the three sat up here awkwardly, cautiously looking at each other as they tried to figure out what to do now. This is how they’ve been for what was likely half an hour. Not the most productive time, he would admit. Skrawl felt himself licking his lip slowly as he noted who Terry was looking at him. She appeared to be just as confused about this situation as he was.

It took a while before any of them had any sort of meaningful conversation. Even then, it was just quick, simple questions and answers. They still had to force themselves to speak and they all were...not the calmest about this situation.

After what felt like several grueling eons, Terry finally made an attempt to properly introduce herself. Straightening her back a little, she motioned her hand out towards the zoners before her and said, “My name is Terry Bouffant and I managed to escape…”

“We know who you are.” Rapsheeba said quickly. She cringed when she noticed the woman’s glare on her. She licked her lips and swallowed hard. “A-Anyway… How did you get here and just what do you want?”

Skrawl nodded his head in agreement. “There has to be a reason why you brought this on so suddenly. I don’t know how you managed to get here, but…”

He stopped when Terry held up a piece of chalk. “I stole this from Sanchez. Penny as you call her…” She paused for a moment, and then added, “I was lucky to have gotten out of that darn mental home that I was locked away in...but I wouldn’t be surprised if they…”

Skrawl and Rapsheeba stared at the chalk in shock, staring at each other and wondering in silence just how she had managed to get that from the Chalk Queen without her realizing it. Their minds didn’t register anything else the woman was saying. Just the fact that she had the chalk that she took from the Chalk Queen herself. But now wasn’t the time to ask about that. They attempted to move on with their conversation.

Which Terry was already happy to oblige with. “I’m sure you are already aware of what I did. I know that I am not the most trustworthy person you would want to meet up with. I came in here being fully aware of that. And quite frankly, I don’t know what to think of you, either.” She paused as she stared at Skrawl and Rapsheeba. Her eyes furrowed as thoughts moved through her head. “But...I do believe you two know somebody...worse than me.”

There was no need to answer. Skrawl kept his mouth shut and he could sense that Rapsheeba wanted to speak. Yet fear of being monitored still was keeping her back. Skrawl suspected that their stares were more than enough for Terry to realize what their answer was going to be.

Nodding her head, Terry hissed softly, “I thought so.”

Rapsheeba said in a shaky voice, “H-How do you know about this?”

“Assuming we are talking about the same thing… Penny Sanchez had come over to see me and Vinnie Raton. Or rather… Vinnie, with a proposition. I summoned her later on so we could talk, but it didn’t go over well.” Terry explained, holding her hand up in gesture. “I don’t really know why, after banishing us, that she would want to try to get us to come back….” She seemed to notice the paled, wide-eyed, horrified expression that Rapsheeba was making. “You find this behavior strange as well?”

Rapsheeba nodded her head quickly. “Sh-She hasn’t been making the...b-b-best decisions lately, but...I..” She lowered her head and moved her gaze from side to side. “I didn’t think that she would go that far…”

Skrawl realized that some context needed to be provided. So motioning his hand to Terry to get her attention, and once he got it, he said, “She might have gotten the idea from me when Craniac and I….it’s a long story, but…” Skrawl decided to skip over that part as it would take a while to explain. “Anyway, she must have realized that if enough zoners rebelled against her, then she would lose her position as leader and…”

“Wait wait wait…” Terry waved her hands in front of her. She turned her head to the side and stared at Skrawl intently with one eye. “..what did you say? Leader…?”

“Yes, she’s our queen.” Rapsheeba said with a bitter tone of voice.

Skrawl corrected her, “The Chalk Queen.”

At that point, it looked as though a lightbulb had lit up inside of the red-haired woman’s head. She moved back, moving her hand up towards her mouth as she looked away. She didn’t look as shocked as she could be, but that made sense considering her lack of intimate connection with ChalkZone. But it was clear that she hadn’t expected this kind of news. When she spoke, her voice was whispery, a tinge of realization hanging in its edge. “Well….that would explain it then…”

“Explain what?” Asked Rapsheeba.

Terry gave a slight glance at Rapsheeba. “From how she was acting, I did have a feeling that something was going on. I just...didn’t think it was something like this.” She put her hand on top of her head and moved it back slowly, caressing her own hair. Her face did not hold too much sympathy, but her words seemed to indicate that she had some capacity of understanding. “What has she done?”

“Oh what did she do? I’ll tell you…” Rapsheeba said, her voice tinged with eagerness to rant to someone, anyone about this issue. Even if it was Terry Bouffant herself.

Skrawl was silent as this went on, with Rapsheeba listing off all sorts of horrors that had taken place. There was no need for him to intervene. He had a feeling that the singer zoner would have this covered. She probably would bring up the fact that he worked for the Chalk Queen. But he could turn that into his favor. After all, he was still up in the air on whether or not to report to Penny about this, or turn it into one final effort to benefit himself.

And if he played his cards right, he might be able to achieve the latter. It just depended on Terry herself, and if she would turn out to be useful for him, or if she should just be killed off. He had little reason to fully trust her, even if she wasn’t using the magic chalk on them at the moment. He continued to quietly observe the situation as he kept his eyes narrowed, his mind piecing together thoughts on what to do next.


	27. Downward Spiral

Rudy could barely move. It felt as though every part of his body was just on fire. He struggled to breathe, his eyes hardly able to keep too much focus. His vision constantly shifted between blurriness and sharpness, making it difficult for him to tell what was around him. There was only one thing that he knew of was nearby and he was focusing on that right now.

The piece of magic chalk that Penny had dropped earlier.

He stared at where it was, noticing its sparkles even though his vision was very blurry. He could feel part of his body itching to go get it. He could feel desperation to get out of here surging up inside, driving him to try to talk the chalk and actually use it to try to escape. He could probably get Courtney’s help. It wouldn’t be too hard if he just…

“Gah!” Rudy collapsed back into the ground as he clutched at his side, curling his legs inward against himself. He seethed through clenched teeth and let out a series of sharp, quivering whimpers. Tears streamed down his face.

What was he going to do? What should he do? He realized that he had a new opportunity to try to get away. But would it be worth it to try? How far could he get when he was feeling like...this? He could feel his head spinning as he tried to cope with the agony that was plaguing him. He felt everything weighing down against him and he only felt increasingly worse as the seconds went by.

Penny might be back soon. If she saw him crawling towards that magic chalk, she might…. But what could happen if he did not try? Would he ever get a chance to get out of here? Would he ever be free? Would he be able to forgive himself for giving up on trying to escape? This and other thoughts circulated in his head, making it ache terribly. He was given an opportunity that he did not expect and he had no idea how he should respond to this.

He lifted his head up shakingly as he stared at the piece of magic chalk just out of his reach. He turned his attention to the door that Penny had walked out, having it locked behind her. He then looked back at the chalk. Maybe he could use it to create a key or just hide it like the first one and this time use it more wisely. There were things that he could do and they were better than just doing nothing.

Rudy let out another yelp as he felt a wave of pain moving through his body. He could feel everything around him starting to spin and he realized that he was not going to be able to walk over. His only chance was to crawl. But would he have enough time?

He had to get moving. That was the only thing that he could do right now. The more time that he spent just staring like this, the less likely it’ll be that he would have a second chance. If he were able to just ignore the pain long enough, he should be able to force himself to get over and get that chalk before Penny came back. The only way to know was to try.

Rudy didn’t waste any time. Doing his best to push his pain out of his head, to ignore it to the best of his abilities, the young, injured man started to crawl towards the magic chalk. Progress was painfully slow and it felt as though his pain was getting worse. But that didn’t stop him. If he didn’t at least try, then what kind of example was he setting for himself?

sss

What was she going to do now? Where was she going to go? Would she even know what she…

Penny tried not to let herself get too clogged up with her thoughts. It wasn’t going to help her in this situation. She was just going to make things worse. She noticed how her head was aching more and more and how she was feeling increasingly unsettled in her stomach. She tried her best not to let her stomach release its contents. But when she came up to a nearby wall, she felt her weight pulling against her, causing her to lean up against the wall, holding onto her stomach. She was soon not able to control herself for much longer and her mouth opened and…

“Ruurrgh..”

Penny groaned as she felt herself releasing everything from her mouth. She ignored the foul stench that it created and she moved herself back, still holding her hands against her stomach. She stared at the ground for a few seconds, and she could see steam rising up from the ground. Her vomit was soaking into the ground in front of her, destroying the chalky surface. She bit her lip in response to this and turned her head away.

She could feel herself curling up into a small ball and she just laid there. The horrible smell hardly bothered her at this point. She stared out ahead at nothingness, feeling more tears moving down her face. She felt her head rumbling with thoughts that she could not push back, no matter what she tried. She sniffled softly and she shut her eyes, feeling the hot tears bathing her cheeks, stinging them a reddish color.

This was pathetic, she realized. Just crying here, feeling sorry for herself. What a poor excuse for a queen… But despite the fact that these thoughts entered her mind and although she knew how true they were, this didn’t stop her from continuing to cry.

She just needed to be alone for a little while, away from anyone else. This quiet, empty hallway would do just fine. She could just lay here and just stay like this without anyone to see her at her weakest point. She was certain that after she had forced all of this out of her system, she would come out stronger. She would know what she was going to do and she was going to make sure that no one was going to…

Her thoughts were interrupted when she could see something moving in front of her. She forced her head to lift up and she could see something blue and... 

Oh no..

Not this again…

Penny’s teeth clenched tightly as she glared up at ‘Snap’, who was approaching her with a cocky expression upon his face. Penny felt the surge rising up in her throat to say something. But she kept it shut, knowing that there was no point in arguing with something that does not exist.

“You still deny that I’m real, I see. Of course you do. It’s easier for you to pretend than it is to see the truth before you.” ‘Snap’ said, his voice surprisingly calm. “And how amusing to see you were. Crawling along the ground like some kind of pathetic worm. How very fitting of you…”

Penny hissed at him. “Sh-Shut up…!”

‘Snap’ ignored her. “How long are you going to do this, Penny? How long are you going to run and hide from your mistakes? How long are you still going to blame Rudy for my death? I know you feel the guilt deep down. You’re just afraid to express it.” ‘Snap’ motioned his hand towards Penny and glared at her. “You try to make claims that you are doing this for this world’s own good and Rudy’s too, and yet you still act like a tyrant. You are worse than you say Rudy was. Regardless if he was more responsible for my death than you…” The apparition’s white eyes were narrowed further. “At least Rudy acknowledges this. What is your excuse?”

Penny tried to think of a response. But any time she attempted to open her mouth, she just felt a lump in her throat. Her stomach’s bile was already rising up swiftly and she had to keep herself rigid to prevent it from overflowing from her. She didn’t know how much longer she could handle this.

She glared at ‘Snap’, feeling her body shaking harder, her eyes narrowing further and aching at her facial muscles. She could feel a cold chill rushing through her, making her unable to hold still. All she could do was just watch ‘Snap’ and see what else he was going to do or say. What more did he want from her?

“You’re a monster. A sick, lowly monster who was never deserving of my or Rudy’s friendship. You just care about yourself. That’s why you murdered me, wasn’t it?” With his eyes narrowing, ‘Snap’ hissed lowly. “You have always been this way. Someone who wants to have more control than anyone else. We were nothing but a science experiment to you, weren’t we…?”

Penny felt her eyes snap open at this. She turned her gaze down, hearing those words echoing in her head. She shook her head and tried to say that it wasn’t true. But she was silenced by a swirl of emotions that crowded inside of her skull. She breathed in and out shakingly as her thoughts seemed to be going out of control. Everything inside of her felt like it was lighting up on fire and there was nothing that she could do to stop it.

That was when she looked down at her hand. She flexed her fingers slowly, staring intently at the fingernails attached to the ends. She couldn’t bring herself to look away. They did kind of look sharp. So sharp that they could…

‘Snap’ released a dark chuckle. “Why not go for it..? You know you want to…” His low voice wavered through her ears, a sort of twisted caress. “Do it…”

Penny wasn’t sure what was coming over her. It was as if someone else was taking control of her. She could feel her hand raising up, her fingers arching and tightening into rigidness. Then with all the strength now sorted up in her wired up muscles, she struck down. She felt a flash of pain as her fingers dug against her arm, pressing up against the flesh. Then she started to rip downwards, a tiny speck of blood emerging.

sss

There. He had finally managed to take it into his hand. He could feel the small, white cold piece against his flesh, the rainbow sparks shining off of it, showing him that he was indeed now holding a piece of magic chalk. The realization that dawned on him moved slowly down the back of his head and neck, making a tingly sensation rush through him. It felt rather strange and he wasn’t able to fully shake it off. But in the end, he now had this piece.

Now what?

He remembered what happened the last time that he had a piece. It was a full piece unlike this one. And he had still managed to screw things up, losing it before he had a chance to do much with it. The only thing that he had drawn with it was a cane, which he had lost earlier. Penny had took it from him, likely locked away somewhere.

Was he going to make the same mistakes? Was he going to put himself in a situation where the past was going to repeat itself and he was once again going to waste his chance? He wouldn’t want to go through a third strike.

But he just..didn’t know what to do.. He tried to search his mind over and over again, but he still wasn’t entirely certain how to go about this. He knew how risky it was. He was lucky that Penny did not react worse than she had. If he thought that this side injury was bad, he was certain that Penny could have done a lot worse to him. He shuddered to think of that kind of situation. He needed a plan. But what sort of plan did he need?

Rudy could think of this all that he wanted to, but it was going to be rather difficult for him to come up with anything. He didn’t care what ‘Snap’ said. He couldn’t rush into this without thinking. He was aware that him thinking for too long was what resulted in him missing his chance to get away. But was that any worse than what would have happened if he had taken quick steps to getting out, only to be found out quickly? He thought of what Penny did to Craniac and the thought made him feel sick inside. He had his doubts that it would have been any worse than that.

Rudy looked towards the ground, staring at it intently. He could feel his heart thudding inside of his chest, seeing his speckled blood on the ground from where the side wound still bled. It served as a reminder to him of Penny’s...condition, how it was steadily getting worse. It was the main driving force right now in him wanting to get out as soon as possible, but at the same time, it’s what was reminding him of what could happen if he didn’t plan this out carefully.

Rudy flinched as he could feel his thoughts colliding with each other, clashing over what he should do. He grabbed his head with his free hand, attempting to keep himself up as the pain swirled around in his head, giving him no relieve. It didn’t take long for the pain to catch up to him. It only took a slight wrong turn and his side lit up in agony. He screamed and he fell on the ground on his other side. This in turn put pressure against his injured chest. Rudy froze and began to shudder, unable to do anything for the next several minutes, incapacitated.

This was pathetic. He felt so pathetic. He was wasting time, he realized. He was not allowing himself to at least try to do something about his situation. He wasn’t forcing himself to at least try something to help further his ability to get away. The longer he remained like this, the worse it was going to get.

“You are right about that, Bucko.”

Rudy felt himself shudder when he heard that force flowing in from the side. He shut his eyes tightly and tried to make an effort to ignore it. He could not let himself get drawn into another conversation with someone who wasn’t even there any longer. He struck against his own head a few times in hopes that the apparition would go away.

It didn’t.

‘Snap’ was now glaring at him, an expression that almost reminded him of Penny, and gave him a similar internal response, his emotions burning. Rudy could feel his eyes narrowing back. He was aware that something was wrong with him. But even with that realization, the apparition still wouldn’t move, still stared at him with those wide, white eyes.

‘Snap’ shook his head from one side to the other. “Even when you have the obvious answer, you still flake on what to do. I thought you would have been better than this, Bucko.”

Rudy snarled, but he didn’t attempt to answer. He was only going to encourage his delusional mind into continuing this equally insane and illogical conversation.

“I think Penny might be coming back. What do you think that she will do when she sees you out here?” ‘Snap’ asked, raising an eyebrow. His arms folded to his chest. “Do you think that she will be happy to see that you have another piece of magic chalk? You know what she will do when she sees that, right?”

Rudy turned his head away, his frown remaining on his face.

It would seem that ‘Snap’ understood what his silent answer was. “Oh really now? Is that how you are going to play it? I do wish you the best of luck then. You are going to need it.”

Rudy wasn’t sure what to say to that, if he even wanted to respond. His mind was tormenting him, he could tell. He had little option but to just sit here and take it. He licked his lips slowly and swallowed hard. He didn’t want to waste any further time talking to someone who wasn’t there. If Penny really was coming back, then perhaps he should take this chance to get out of here and head back into his cage. Even though it was Penny who had left him out her, she might find a way to blame him, anyway.

Getting up to his feet, Rudy wobbled from side to side. He struggled to keep his feet firmly planted on the ground. He had to grab onto the nearby dresser in order to keep his balance. He slipped a little and he accidentally hit against his thigh. He seethed through clenched teeth and let out a small yelp of pain. He remained still for a few seconds before he pushed his trembling body away and started to limp towards the cage.

“How long do you think you can handle this? You know she will do something about you eventually. Just remember that…”

Rudy swerved his head to glare at ‘Snap’, but as soon as he did, the apparition was gone. He wasn’t really sure what to think about that. A torrent of thoughts hung around his mind and he couldn’t figure out how to shake it away from him. With his stomach giving off a few small stings, he forced himself to limp back towards his cage.

The journey there took longer than he had expected. He felt everything in his body aching. He could feel his legs bending and twisting. He could feel his sense of balance being shaken more than once. He felt sharpness striking against him, preventing him from having any peace while doing this. By the time he got to the cage, he ended up nearly collapsing, having to shake his head swiftly and pulling himself back before he ended up hurting himself more. He hesitated for a few seconds and then moved himself into the cage, shutting the door behind him.

Would Penny believe him if she asked about this? Would she recall that she left him out and ask him about what happened? Rudy had a feeling that this could be the case. And he had every reason to think that she won’t listen to him. But what else could he do?

He stared at the piece of magic chalk that he now possessed. He slowly curled his fingers around it, tightening his grip on it. He still didn’t know exactly how he was going to go about this. But he did know that if he didn’t actually try something this time, he might never get another chance like this again.

Could he really afford that…?

He narrowed his eyes into slits. No, he could not. And he already knew what he could do to help change things this time. He might not be ready now to draw anything to escape with. He might not be able to handle a full on battle with Penny as he was now. But if he were to practice…

Rudy looked towards the ground where he had been marking the days he was here. He could see the small circle that he had attempted to create. It was pretty wonky, which made sense considering how long it’s been since he had actually drawn anything. But if he were to keep at it, if he were to slowly build up his abilities, perhaps he would eventually be able to better defend himself.

He wasn’t going to screw up this time.

With determination locking inside of his mind, his adrenaline numbing his pain, Rudy bent himself down towards the ground and began to ‘sketch’ another circle with his finger.

sss

It was easy to decipher what kind of look the red-haired woman was giving after Rapsheeba finished her little story. The expression’s horror was easy to read even with only one eye looking at her. It was just plain as day, as was the small gasp that she was giving out of her mouth.

Skrawl let out a small sigh as he turned his head a little more to see her better. Terry hadn’t really changed her expression all that much. The horror was still etched on her facial features. This came off as interesting to Skrawl. This is the same woman who had been wanting to expose ChalkZone for years. And yet the moment that she had learned what Penny had done, even she was disgusted.

Skrawl didn’t know how honest this look was, however. Terry was good at deception, or at least, Penny claimed that she was. Penny could be lying...but that didn’t stop the jellybean from silently questioning whether or not she actually did care or not. Oh well, might as well continue on with what was being talked about.

After thinking about it for a while, he was starting to believe that perhaps he really could use Terry for something. Working with her might prove to be worthwhile. He might have another chance at regaining control of this world, the way that it should have been. He might be able have an even better chance this time around, without as much fear as before. There was still a risk involved, he realized, and there was still a part of him who acknowledged that working with Penny would result in a decent outcome.

But there was no harm in having a backup plan, right? And this time, he could have a potential ally that could work in the Real World and not just ChalkZone. He….

...he flinched when he realized that was a similar plan that he had with Penny. And look at how that turned out. If Terry was anything like Penny, was he going to risk ending up having a similar situation unfold again?

Perhaps, but it was too late to head back now, wasn’t it? Drawing in a deep breath, Skrawl decided that it was time to rejoin the conversation.

“I can confirm that what she has told you is true.” Skrawl said, speaking up after remaining silent long enough. He could see how swiftly Terry was turning his head to look at her. He nearly took a step back, but he managed to keep himself steady. “I know that I will admit I worked for her, but she is worse than I.”

Rapsheeba turned to give him a small glare. “Don’t try to pretend that’s true.”

Skrawl ignored her the best that he could. Keeping his eyes on Terry, he said, “Anyway, I am sure that we could work out some sort of...deal?” He slowly motioned his hand out towards the woman, his claws flexing outward lightly. “I know this might sound strange coming from someone like me. But judging from your reaction, I presume that this is not the sort of future that you had planned for ChalkZone?”

Terry shook her head. “I didn’t think Sanchez even had it in her to do something like this.” She turned her gaze downward slightly. Her eyes furrowed deeply. “I still can’t believe that’s how she’s treating Tabootie…”

Skrawl could detect the mixture of emotions in the woman’s voice. “You might not have known him well, and I am not fond of him myself, and she…” He motioned to Rapsheeba. “..cares for him. But we can all agree that the Chalk Queen is giving him unfair treatment. Even I wouldn’t have prolonged things this much.”

Rapsheeba rolled her eyes. “Just keep saying that if it makes you feel so high and mighty.” She ignored Skrawl’s growl as she turned to stare at Terry. “I’m not sure if this is what you came in here for. But now that we all have a better understanding of what’s going on...what do you want to do about it?”

Terry bit her lip firmly. She hesitated to respond, likely trying to sort out her thoughts. She turned away from them as she thought of her answer. When she looked back, one of her eyebrows was slightly raised up. “Where did you say that he was being kept?”

“Pen...I mean, the Chalk Queen is keeping him locked up in her chambers. I know where it is, but with the higher level of surveillance..” Skrawl could feel himself releasing a low growl of frustration. “That’s just going to make things more complicated.”

“You regret your effort to usurp her, don’t you?” Rapsheeba said, her voice laced with sarcasm.

Skrawl formed a small fist with his hand. This time, he was not able to fully shrug that off. He turned to glare at her, feeling his body shaking in the process. He pointed his other hand towards Rapsheeba, his pointer finger near the space between her eyes. “You know I had no choice! She was starting to…”

“I suppose you didn’t have the courage to try earlier, eh?”

“Shut up!”

Skrawl and Rapsheeba spent a few more seconds just glaring at each other. They growled and snarled at one another, refusing to look away. The tension in the air around them grew, and for a moment, they both had forgotten that someone else was there with them. It took them what felt like several minutes to even start to look away. And when they did, they could hear a few small coughs, the first reminder to them that they were not alone here.

Terry was looking at them with slightly widened eyes, confusion plastered over her face. It was in that moment that Skrawl, and likely Rapsheeba as well, realized that they were getting off topic. This was not going to help their present situation. And if they continued like this, it was just going to make things worse. They had come here to talk, not to engage in a fight.

And messing this up could screw over his chance to gain a new ally, Skrawl realized.

Skrawl did his best to shrug off his previous feelings regarding Rapsheeba. He could feel them moving down his arms and legs, seeping out of his body like soup spilling to the ground. He took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Eventually, his feelings of anger disappeared, and he was able to focus on Terry Bouffant herself.

“I apologize…” Skrawl swallowed his pride to say that. He continued, “Anyway, I do know where Rudy Tabootie is being held. The zoners are already aware that he was held prisoner, but they are under the believe that he was killed...courtesy of me.” He motioned to himself. He could see Terry raising her eyebrow at this. “He is….mostly okay, but he can’t walk well. The Chalk Queen broke his leg as a kid.”

“I see…” Terry spoke softly.

“What would you suggest we should do?” Rapsheeba said. “You came here for a reason. This might not be what you expected. But do you have any thoughts?”

The red-haired woman didn’t answer right away. The silence that followed was a little uneasy, almost tense. But it was all part for the course. After all, none of them had any idea what they were doing. This whole situation was pretty risky, but it could have been even worse if no one showed up here.

Skrawl did feel his gut starting to churn a little. There was a small part of him starting to regret this, especially when he noticed Terry starting to smile. But he tried not to get himself too worked up. After all, it wasn’t like anything has…

His thoughts were cut off almost immediately as Terry’s shoulders started to shake. And then he could hear it.

Terry chuckled softly. “It’s amusing how much you trust me even though you know what I tried to do.” She raised up her piece of magic chalk, turning it from side to side, watching it sparkle. “It would be too easy for me to draw something to get rid of the two of you. Then I could do whatever I wanted, right?” She turned her head in such a way that she gave them an upwards, slightly sideways stare. “Humans have great power in this world… What would stop me from just taking what I wanted?”

Skrawl and Rapsheeba both tensed up at this. They moved back a little, reaching the edge of the platform. Skrawl turned his head to look down and he could feel a rush of dizziness hitting him in the face. He turned his head away and he stared back at Terry. He gritted his teeth, feeling a whirlwind of thoughts coming over him.

Terry was smiling at the two of them in an almost eerie fashion. She looked like she was enjoying herself. It was like she was experiencing the taste of power for the first time. She kept casting quick glances at the magic chalk. The way her facial expression was making several swift changes, it was hard to tell if she was debating with herself on what to do or if it was something else.

And when she looked back, the way that she was looking at them now, it was so hard not to jump...which Skrawl thankfully did not do because it would have resulted in his fall. Rapsheeba on the other hand nearly fell herself. Skrawl’s quick actions, grabbing her arm, was what had saved her. He ignored her confused expression as he turned to glare at Terry.

Ignoring the look he got from Rapsheeba, Skrawl started to hiss, “We’re prepared to fight you if…”

Terry pulled her head back and released a laugh. She had to force herself to calm down. She bent forward, rubbing at her face as she slowly but surely managed to shut herself up. “Oh try to relax, will you?” She paused for a moment as she stroked her fingers through her hair. Then she raised herself up a little hair and said, “I will help you.”

“Y-You will?” Rapsheeba breathed, disbelief hanging at the edge of her voice.

“Of course…” Terry paused for a moment, then she raised up her hand, the one not holding the magic chalk, and she started to rub her thumb and fingers together in an all too familiar motion. “Under one condition…”

Skrawl and Rapsheeba glanced at each other nervously in response to this. They were both thinking the same thing: Had they just made a huge mistake?


	28. Shock And Crimson

Making her way back over to her chamber was filled with several moments that stung her terribly, quite literally. A wrong move would cause her to cringe and grab onto her arm, only to pull back as she got a reminder of what she had done to herself. She seethed through clenched teeth and released a low groan of pain.

Yet somehow, Penny still managed to carry on regardless. Was it some kind of miracle? Or just dumb luck? She didn’t know, nor did she care to ask. She just continued to stagger her way down the steps, her mind humming and radiating with the memories of what happened not too long ago.

She didn’t know why she had hurt herself like that. She didn’t know why ‘Snap’s’ voice was able to convince her into doing it. She could still feel the pain humming around in her arm that she had sliced up with her nails. Sure they did not dig in as deeply as they could have. But it was still enough to draw some blood, lightly staining her arm, and giving it the feeling of being lit on fire. She recalled how she had scratched at it again and again, and her mind was so distorted by the whole thing that she almost got something even sharper to deal more damage to herself.

She wasn’t sure what got her to stop hurting herself. But she was still glad that something had happened to put an end to it. She knew that these injuries shouldn’t take too long to heal if treated right away. But it still served as an unsettling reminder to her that not all was well with her. She could not keep pretending that everything was all fine and good. Something was going to give soon.

And when it did, what was she going to do about it? Would she be prepared for what was going to happen?

Probably the most terrifying part for her was that...she had almost...enjoyed what she did. It was almost like it was catharsis for her, a way for her to release her emotions. It felt good, despite all of the pain. She felt her guilt rushing through her body and exiting through her finger tips. She felt a surge of adrenaline and excitement rising up in the pit of her stomach. It was like she was starting to lose control of herself and there was nothing that she could do about it. It was exhilarating before, but now she was feeling terrified, shaken up by her own internal desires.

Penny did her best to shake the thoughts out of her mind. She gave a sharp shudder as she came up towards the door in front of her. She didn’t recall when she got here. She must have been too distracted by… No, she was not going to think about it again. She forced the sensation to run down her back as she opened up the door and re-entered inside.

The moment that she saw that Rudy was inside of his cage, his body bending over something, her memories started to ring in the back of her mind. Was there something that she had forgotten about earlier? Something was popping up, but still so unclear that she couldn’t name it right away. No matter how much she tried to think of this, nothing would show up, causing her head and neck to ache in frustration.

Penny swallowed hard and she took a few steps closer. She stared at Rudy intently, wondering just what he was doing. She noticed that one of his arms was moving, but what was…

Her eyes widened.

“Rudy, what are you doing…?” She called out.

Rudy jumped up at this shout. He bent his leg the wrong way and he let out a cry of pain. Penny flinched a little as she watched him drop to the ground. Rudy groaned softly before pushing himself back up. He turned his head and his eyes widened at the sight of her. It didn’t take long for him to react in full.

The young man shifted himself around as quickly as he could. This was hindered by the pain that he was in. His feet were slipping and knees bending erratically. He kept wobbling and jerking about as he tried to cope with his movements. His whole body shook and trembled almost violently and his wide, terrified eyes would not leave Penny’s position. He froze and locked up and he remained like this for several long moments. It was almost like the two of them had become statues.

Penny watched Rudy, biting her lip firmly. She tried to think of what she was going to do at this point. She could not just let Rudy continue to move around like this. He was hurting himself more, which would make her work that much harder.

And just what was he doing? It looked like he was trying to draw something, but he held nothing in his hand. Was he hiding something? Was he trying to hide something from her? It wasn’t like he had many places that he could hit something in. Her eyes narrowed softly as she started to move in a little closer. She tilted her head to one side, and tried to look around Rudy, looking for anything suspicious.

“Answer me, Rudy. What were you doing?” Penny asked again. This time, her voice was softer and more airy. She kept her eyes glued to Rud’s pupils, showing her how serious that she was. “I am not going to ask again. Don’t make me…”

“I-I was doing n-n-nothing!” Rudy called out. “I… Aaaah!” Rudy immediately collapsed to the ground and hugged himself tightly. “Nothing….nothing at all…” He managed to whimper even in the midst of his pain.

Penny raised her eyebrow at this. Who was Rudy trying to fool? She could hear the sheer agony in his voice. It wasn’t difficult to decipher what was going on. If nothing was done soon, Rudy was just going to continue to be in pain and agony and never really recover. A dead Rudy wasn’t of much use to her, outside of perhaps just making some things easier. But since she was not interested in losing someone else that she had any sort of attachment to, she went to intervene.

Rudy, however, wasn’t very well responsive to this. With his body trembling harder, he struck out towards Penny, attempting to knock her hand away. “G-Get back! D-D-Don’t touch me! I-I’ll be fine!”

Penny easily dodged these ‘attacks’. Not like they really would have done much, anyway. They were just pathetic and feeble, and she doubted that Rudy would have really gone that far. Snorting softly, she continued to make her way closer to him.

Rudy kept trying to move back from her. This was even in spite of the fact that he was hurt, twisting his body about. She would have thought that he would have been smart enough to not push himself like this. She knew that Rudy would rather avoid the pain. Of course, this could easily be explained with him wanting to get away from her, as he had done similar things in the past. She wasn’t sure what it was, but something felt different about this time around.

When she got close enough to him, Penny launched herself forward and grabbed onto Rudy. She forced him into the ground. She steadied herself and prevented Rudy from being able to scramble away from her. She had to use a combination of her weight and strength to have any level of success. But it appeared to be working.

With Rudy now in the ground, Penny attempted to look over his body, her hand trailing long, and looked for anything hidden, anything that Rudy might be trying to hide from her deliberately. Rudy kept struggling underneath her, kicking his good leg out in desperation. Penny gritted her teeth and released a small, hissing grunt as she fought back against him. Slowly, she was pulled away from doing her search to just trying to get Rudy to hold still.

“Stop this right now! As your queen, I command you to stop!” Penny snarled at Rudy.

Rudy’s head was turning about wildly, his eyes clinched shut tightly. “Get away from me!”

“Knock it off!”

“Go away!”

Penny couldn’t believe how stubborn Rudy was being. Didn’t he realize that he was going to… Wait, no, she could understand this. Rudy was running on raw emotion right now, overriding his pain. She did realize that she had some blame in this, so she could only slap herself in the face for what was going on. But despite that, she could not linger on it too long and she opted to continue trying to hold Rudy down.

But how long could she do this? She would have to wait until Rudy’s adrenaline was depleted and then she would have more control over him. Perhaps she should drug him to keep him from acting out. She didn’t like the idea completely, but at least it would force Rudy to do what he should have been doing all along, and that was resting. The fact that, even after her recent...attack….on him, he was still able to move about like this, it was rather…. She wasn’t sure what the word was.

Yet shouldn’t it be impossible for….unless ChalkZone’s atmosphere was interacting with his body? He had been here for so long, maybe he was somehow able to get more adrenaline because…

That did sound absurd, but then again, considering that this was ChalkZone….

Then a thought came crashing down into her head. This was enough to make her freeze, her body arching back enough to make it snap, the crack echoing in her head as her eyes widened in horror. That same thought lingered around inside of her skull. It forced her to think about it for several long seconds, a question hovering around inside of her head.

If ChalkZone’s own atmosphere was messing with Rudy in some way, unrelenting as he never got a chance to leave this world, would any of that interacting become...permanent? It might sound absurd at first, the idea that this world could slowly eat away at a Real World being’s core. She and Rudy had been in here so long that it didn’t seem possible. And yet she had seen chalk changing people in quicker scales at times, such as that chalk that altered adult’s minds to be more childish. While it was clear that this isn’t what was happening to Rudy, the very idea that something like this could be happening on a microscopic scale…

Penny could feel a chilliness striking against her like a collapsing brick wall. Her whole body froze, unable to move.

Though she could not see him, ‘Snap’s’ voice started to echo in her head, accompanying her own thoughts. It served as a testament to the fact that this had been her guilty conscience plaguing her the entire time.

“You knew something like this was going to happen, didn’t you? I can see it in your eyes. You knew that just by keeping Rudy here, you were going to mess him up. It feels good, doesn’t it? Don’t try to lie. You know that it’s true.”

Penny didn’t care to respond to the voice. Her eyes were only on Rudy’s form. She took in a few shaky breaths as she slowly realized what was going on. She became unaware of her surroundings. Everything was just dark around her and all that she was aware of was Rudy. The passage time almost seemed to grind to a halt, and the air grew continuously thicker. A bitter taste made its way into her mouth. In that moment, she had forgotten about the atrocity that Rudy had a hand in, and she was only aware of the small child whose life she had robbed.

She did this… She was the one reason that this had happened… She was the one who had…

Suddenly, Penny felt something sharp striking against her neck. It was so fast, accompanied by an equally fast colored motion. The pain seemed to fade away instantly, and it almost seemed like it was just a fluke. Then she started to feel something warm moving down her neck. She started to tremble. Then she saw the way that Rudy was looking at her, prompting her to raise her hand up and touch her neck.

She was immediately greeted by a warm, thick wetness. She pulled her hand back. Her fingers were coated in dark red blood. The sight of it was enough to make her eyes widen, her vision blurring a few times. Then she turned her head to see that Rudy was holding a piece of magic chalk.

The same broken piece that she had left behind…

Penny stared into Rudy’s wide, frightened and horrified eyes as realization on what happened dawned on her. Then she could feel a small smile tugging its away at her face. She managed to release a small, strangled chuckle before she collapsed downward into the ground. Her blurry vision faded away into darkness, and the last thing she saw before blackness took a hold was Rudy’s shocked face.

Karma was such a bitch, wasn’t it…?

sss

Rudy stared long and hard at what had happened before him, his chest pounding heavily with the racing heart inside. He struggled to keep breathing. He put his hand against his head, his body wobbling and shaking from side to side. He felt increasingly ill. He could feel his trembling hand loosen the piece of chalk out and it dropped to the ground. The loud clanging sound that it made accentuated the emotions that he was feeling right now.

What did he do? What had he done? He didn’t mean to do this…. Oh gawd, he didn’t mean to…

Penny laid collapsed in front of him. She hadn’t moved except for her breathing. This sounded ragged and strained. Below her, there was a small pool of blood forming, coming from the gash that moved jaggedly along her neck.

The injury that he himself had delivered.

Rudy shook his head in denial. He didn’t want to think that he had done this. He wanted to believe that something else had happened. Perhaps someone else had made the move and… But he quickly stopped himself. He was starting to act like how Penny had, trying to bury himself in denial. There was nothing that he could do to shirk the blame. He had nothing to go off on. He was only doing this because he didn’t want the pain of guilt.

Yet the evidence of his deed was right there before him. He could keep trying to lie to himself, but he knew what had actually happened. No amount of denial was going to change it. He could feel his head swirling with a mixture of confusing, conflicting emotions. He felt burning tears eat away at his eyes and he struggled to figure out what he was going to do.

“Why do you need to debate on this? You already know what you should do…”

Rudy cringed as he heard the voice of ‘Snap’ in his head. He looked around and saw no one there. Yet the voice came in loud and clear. It was almost like he was standing right beside him.

“She kept you locked up for years. She blamed you for my death, Bucko. Doesn’t she deserve some comeuppance? Doesn't she deserve to die? Wouldn’t everyone be better off without her? Remember what she did to ChalkZone… to me… to you…”

Rudy gripped his head tightly with one hand, pressing his fingernails against his skin. That voice continued to speak to him, telling him all the reasons why he should just leave and let Penny bleed to death. And there was a part of him that was agreeing with this. Penny hadn’t been doing a good job at being accountable, or fair to others. She had been selfish and cruel and she did kill those zoners. She had killed Howdy…

And yet there was still a small part of him, eating away at his very soul, that refused to let him move. There was something that was keeping him there, unable to just abandon Penny. He could feel his limbs burning as he tried to force himself to move away, yet it felt as though this became an impossible task. He tried to understand what was going on.

Then it clicked for him in his head.

A part of him still cared about Penny.

This seemed strange at first, but he did have earlier behaviors that indicated this. He hadn’t wanted to admit it but now those feelings were returning with a vengeance. There was something in his mind, his torn apart attachment to Penny, that was fighting with his other mind’s side. Despite the burning anger boiling in his stomach, somehow the prospect of just letting Penny die made him feel sick inside.

“What are you doing? Get away from her! Let her die! She deserves it!”

Rudy ignored that voice as he kept his focus on Penny. He bit his lip firmly as he struggled to think of what he was going to do. He could feel the emotions of wanting to help Penny rising up inside of him, despite what he knew that she had done. Besides, it would have been the right thing to do something about this, right? Penny did help him when he was injured. If he did not do the same for her, wouldn’t that make him less than what she was?

Rudy shook the thoughts out of his head as he forced himself closer to Penny. He could feel the aches and pains striking at his chest, accentuating the pain in his leg and sides. A whirlwind of agony crept along him, and he took in a sharp, gaspy breath. Before he could stop himself, he dropped down onto his knees, holding onto himself as he felt the pain shaking his body to its very core.

Rudy could feel his vision rapidly blurring. He thought he could hear ‘Snap’ insulting him for being so stupid. He chuckled bitterly at this as he let that voice fade away from his mind. He kept his attention on Penny’s still form. He moved his body forward and he tried to reach for her. He didn’t know why he did this. Something just compelled him to do so. But, as his hand trembled, he felt his energy just give out.

Collapsing to the ground, Rudy laid there, his body quaking in pain. It was in that moment that he could feel something almost burst inside of him, where his side injury was. With his eyes bulging wide open, he let out a loud, bloodcurdling scream.

sss

“Aaaaaah!”

The loud, echoing scream was enough to make Skrawl nearly lose his footing as he made his way down the winding steps. His sudden stop caused the woman behind him to collide with him and the two of them nearly toppled down the steps together.

Skrawl snarled and turned his head to glare at her. “Watch it!”

Terry just narrowed her eyes back at him. “Hey, you were the one who stopped without warning! Besides, I told you that I needed to get back to the mental ward before they realize I’m gone! What’s so important that you have to drag me to…”

Skrawl grabbed onto her mouth to hold it shut. Once he had her silenced, he leaned in and hissed against her face. “Shut up… The Chalk Queen’s likely down there. You don’t want to know what she will do to you if she finds out that you are here. It’s lucky enough that we were able to get Rapsheeba to leave and do something else. You better not ruin this.”

Terry narrowed her eyes. A few seconds later, Skrawl could feel something moving along his palm. He immediately shuddered and let out a yelp of pain as the woman’s saliva burned against his skin. He pulled back from her and clutched his wrist tightly. He stared at his trembling hand and he could see the small bits of steam coming off of his hand. With his eyes briefly widening, he turned to glare intensely at Terry.

The woman merely shrugged her shoulders. “You shouldn’t have touched me like that, you stupid zoner.”

Skrawl released another low growl, but said nothing. It wasn’t going to be worth it anyway. He turned himself around and he continued to head down the steps carefully.

He still was not sure how good of an idea this was. But regardless, he still pressed on. He needed to try to do something, right? He needed to make sure that Terry would be an ally. This might be a very reckless way of doing things. But if he were to bring her to Rudy and leave her alone with him, he could observe from a hidden location how she reacted to him and from there determine just how helpful, or dangerous, that she truly was.

Was there a chance that he was going to regret this? He didn’t doubt it for a second. There was always something that could happen. But he also knew that sometimes the best results came from taking a risk. If he didn’t try something like this, then how would he ever know if any advancement was possible?

Soon, they reached the door. Skrawl forced out an exhale. He might as well get this over with.

Reaching his hand towards the door, Skrawl grabbed onto it tightly and squeezed it in his hand. He still felt some hesitation, knowing how badly this could all go wrong for him. He could see images of the Chalk Queen in his head, recalling what she had told him before. He would need to think on his feet to prevent himself from getting into trouble for this. Forcing out an exhale, he got himself to open up the door.

“Finally, what was taking you….so...long…” Terry stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening at what she was seeing in front of her. “What in the world…”

Skrawl didn’t bother to ask her what was going on. As soon as he looked over himself, he could see what she saw. He, too, felt himself growing rigid with shock. He too found it hard to tear his eyes away from the scene before him and he could feel his teeth clenching in nervousness. He could feel his head echoing with the same question that Terry had just asked.

Both Rudy and Penny laid unconscious on the ground. Or at least, it seemed like it. Penny clearly was. And he could see the blood that pooled around her. But Rudy’s face was not pointed this way, so it was a little harder for him to tell if he was knocked out or not.

Either way, this was not the situation that he thought he was going to see. He felt a wave of confusing hitting him in the side of his face when he saw this. It made his skull vibrate with several thoughts on what could have happened here. So many questions burdened him and he didn’t know which to answer first. It was clear to him that something had happened here. But he did not have a dang clue on what that was.

Regardless, it didn’t stop him and Terry from rushing over. Even though these two were their mutual enemies, that didn’t mean that they were exactly thrilled to see something like this when they waltzed in here. Terry especially looked like her face had paled with horror upon seeing this. Surely, she felt some level of concern for her two fellow humans.

Skrawl stayed outside of the cage, allowing Terry to rush in on her own. He had forgotten about his original plan, and instead he just watched her carefully to see what she was going to say. Though they both had heard the screaming, niether of them had thought it was too bad. Nothing more than Penny irritating Rudy’s bad leg. They didn’t think that it was going to be something like this. Skrawl bit his lip as he watched Terry drop down next to the two, leaning in forward to examine them.

After a few moments, Terry turned her head to look at Skrawl with one eye. “Sanchez’s throat is slashed.”

Skrawl blinked at this. His initial question would have been if Rudy did it. But he couldn’t fathom the chalk boy going quite that far. And how would he have done so if Penny would have clearly had the upper hand?

Terry continued, “I can’t tell with Tabootie… Maybe he has an injury somewhere that just made him give out.”

That didn’t really narrow it down by much, Skrawl thought. Penny likely had hurt him multiple times during the years that he was here. He had bore witness to some of that violence through the use of cameras. He wouldn’t have any doubt in his mind that Penny had responsible. Perhaps it was some kind of internal injury that they could not see. Or perhaps it was one of the surface injuries.

Skrawl moved himself along the cage some more in an effort to try to see the young boy on the ground. He could see that he had a new injury on his side. He could see the red stains, wondering how fresh they were. Could this by why he was knocked out? Or had there been another reason? Didn’t he hear a crack before?

With that thought in mind, Skrawl asked Terry, “Do you know if a broken bone not treated can lead to infection…?”

Terry looked at him strangely. One of her eyebrows were raised up, plastered with confusion. “I don’t know why you’re asking me that. But the answer I’m sure is yes.” She paused for a moment. She motioned her hand out towards Skrawl. “I don’t think you asked me that at random, did you…?”

Skrawl shook his head slowly. “I’m pretty sure at least one of Rudy’s...encounters with P… The Chalk Queen...has led him to get some broken bones. I don’t think she bothered bringing him to the Real World for treatment.” He furrowed his eyes deeply as he stared at Penny and then trailed his eyes towads Rudy. “No, with the level of control that she had, she would have wanted to keep asserting it by keeping him here, against his will.”

Terry’s teeth became bared at this comment. She turned her head and she stared in one direction. “That bitch…”

“Not like you care about either of them…” Skrawl grumbled under his breath. But who was he to talk? He did come over here on his own accord anyway. So he should stop talking.

Terry reached down and moved her hand lightly along Rudy’s head. Upon getting no response, she said, “He’s out cold too.” She let out a small sigh as she shifted her body around and she took a look over at Penny. She carefully lifted the girl’s head up to see her neck. She flinched at the sight of it. “She’s lost enough blood to lose consciousness, but thankfully I don’t think she had anything extremely important sliced up. Still, she is going to need to have this bleeding stop if she’s going to live.”

Skrawl held his hand up in gesture. “Why would you want her to live? After what you knew that she did?”

Terry turned her head, giving him a backwards glance. “She can’t very well pay the price for everything she did if she dies, right?”

Skrawl went silent at this. He couldn’t exactly deny those words. He slowly nodded his head, signalling for Terry to continue with what she was doing.


	29. Clouds Of Confusion

When he first opened up his eyes, he didn’t know where he was, nor could he remember how he even got here in the first place. Everything was too dark and too unfamiliar for him to decipher. He tried his best to turn his gaze from side to side in hopes of finding something, anything, that could tell him where he was. But as the seconds passed, he realized that he was not going to get any answers. The only option that he had was to try to move. With that in mind, he started to shift himself to one side…

...only to find that he couldn’t go over all the way. He could feel his arm almost literally attached to something. He tried to pull it harder and harder, and soon realized that there was something strapped around it. He tried to move his other limbs, but they, too, had received the same treatment.

Immediately, Rudy’s mind became a whirlwind of horror and emotion. He started to struggle harder, panic racing through his body. He could feel every core inch of himself being ripped into, torn apart by something inside of him that he could not control. He eventually stopped trying to move, his body collapsing, his breathing gone wild. He turned his head frantically from side to side as he tried to see what was going on.

Just where the hell was he? What kind of room was this? Why was it so dark? Wait, or was it dark? Was there something against his face? He tried to shake his head, but it was useless. There was nothing that he could do to shake off whatever was covering up his eyes. He was locked in darkness and he didn’t know how this all came to pass.

Was this Penny’s doing? That was the first thing that came to his mind. Penny might be the type of person to do something like this. And yet that did not seem fully right. She hadn’t tied him down like this in the past. Messing with his leg had always been good enough for her. He had his doubts that Skrawl would do this, either. But that left him with very few options to think of. With such a limited choice, Rudy’s heart sped up quicker. Not knowing who did this to him was worse than knowing. He hoped that he would find out soon enough.

In the meantime, all Rudy could do was lay there in darkness. He felt a cold shudder rushing through his body. He could feel the tingling pain moving along his limbs, reminding him of his past pain. He felt something crawling up into his throat and itching its way out of his mouth in the form of a small cry and whimper as he realized the kind of predicament that he was in.

Thoughts raced through his mind as he tried to gather what happened before. Had someone snuck in and kidnapped him while Penny was away? Or wasn’t Penny there the entire time? He felt the back of his head hurting and aching at the thought, struggling to keep himself breathing as much as possible. It felt like his oxygen levels were being depleted the longer than he thought about this.

Soon he could feel some memories forging in his head. Finally, some sort of glimmer was being detected. That glimmer only sparked a little, but then started to expand broader and wider. It crawled along through his mind, dissipating and giving out to something wider and bigger. With his head becoming wobbly, horror lingering in his throat and chest, once the memory became clear, Rudy stiffened up at what had happened.

He had….attacked Penny… He could see the image clear as day in his mind. He could see himself striking out against her with something sharp. He could hear her cries of agony and he could see her collapsing to the ground. He could see her squirming and kicking before succumbing to unconsciousness. It had all happened so fast, and yet his mind played it out like it happened very slowly.

That’s when he realized what must have happened. Despite his earlier thoughts that maybe Penny was not responsible, perhaps that was the case after all. Maybe Penny survived the ordeal, woke up and treated herself. Then she saw him on the ground and remembered what he did. And since he head nearly killed her, she would have decided to be even harsher with him. There was no doubt in his mind that this must have been what happened.

Helpless and unable to do anything, all Rudy could do was close his eyes and start to cry softly. He had screwed up big time with this move. This stupid, horrible move… He doubted that Penny would show mercy on him this time. She was going to do something to him, something that he would never forget… And he had no one to blame but himself. If only he hadn’t…

Rudy felt a jolt moving through his body when he could hear the sound of the door opening up. There was no use in trying to look around. It wasn’t like he was going to see the figure anyway. He could only just lay here, flat on his back, as Penny approached him, likely more furious with him than she’s ever been.

The footsteps drew closer and closer. Each time, Rudy could feel his heart racing quicker, almost full to bursting wide open. He could taste his bile crawling up into his stomach and chest and his throat. He trembled harder, tears moving down his cheeks, partially staining the cloth that covered up his eyes. He didn’t bother trying to stop himself or hide his fear from Penny. She would have already seen his fear from a mile away.

Soon, he could feel her shadow over him. He could feel her body heat radiating around him and her aura grasping at him. He could feel her eyes burning into him. He curled his lip down and gritted his teeth. He held still and waited for the pain to arrive.

Then he could hear a voice calling out to him.

“Tabootie, why are you so tense..? I know you’ve been through a lot, but there’s no reason to act like this is the end of the world.”

Rudy immediately stiffened up, stifling a gasp. Oh no… This was worse than he thought… He felt his heart turn to ice, its pumping hindered as emotion gripped at Rudy’s mind. He shook his head in denial, not wanting to admit that this was reality.

But he knew deep down who that voice belonged to. He couldn’t deny it for much longer. He took in a shuddering breath, his head starting to spin hard.

With a fear-tinged voice, he whimpered, “T-T-Terry B-Bouffant…?”

“Who else were you expecting…?” Terry asked.

Rudy didn’t bother to answer. There was nothing that he could say in this situation. He already knew that he was in some deep shit. But he just found out it was a lot worse than he thought before. At least with Penny, he knew what to expect. But if Terry was in ChalkZone…. He had no idea how she got here, but that thought hardly settled in his mind. He was instead focusing on the fact that she was here at all and he couldn’t help but keep asking himself what she was going to do.

Terry in ChalkZone…. This was a horrible disaster. How could this have happened…? He could feel his mind exploding with thoughts on what she was going to do. What was going to happen to the zoners? What were the people coming in here going to do? He couldn’t stop thinking about it, which in turn caused him to whimper longer and louder.

“I see. You must have been expecting Penny.” Terry gave a pause. She then forced out a small sigh. “And also, will you quit your crying? Geeze, you’re acting like I’m torturing you or something!”

Rudy gave a small sniffle. “What are you...planning to do…. B-Bouffant…?”

Terry sounded as though she released a snarl, “Well I certainly didn’t plan on hurting you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Why did you tie me down?” Rudy asked, his voice late and slightly faded.

“Oh this? Well I had to keep you from squirming around too much, didn’t I? If I didn’t do something, you would have hurt yourself more while I took a look at you.” Terry explained.

Rudy could feel confusion crawling through his mind. “Wh-Why are you w-w-worried about that..? Is this just so that you will have an e-e-easier time interrogating me…?”

Terry went silent for a few moments. Without being able to see her face, Rudy couldn’t tell if she was shocked he figured it out or insulted that he accused her of such. He kept his head staring in her direction, at least where he knew her voice was coming from. Then he merely waited, and eventually she did respond back. The exasperated sigh indicated her frustration.

“That isn’t why I have you tied down, Tabootie.”

“Then why…”

“I already told you. So I can better examine you without you freaking out. I know this is unconventional, but…”

Rudy didn’t know what to think of this situation. On the one hand, Terry did sound almost sincere in what she was saying. Perhaps she didn’t put him down here to force out information. Maybe she really did just want to help him. But why would she do that? Didn’t she hate him? Then again, it was Penny that she mostly interacted with, so perhaps the woman had no reason to dislike him all that much.

Still, Rudy hardly felt very comfortable in this current situation. He had little reason to think that Terry wouldn’t try to turn this into something about ChalkZone. Maybe she was just trying to lower his guard so that she could make the right move without him being able to do anything about it. Penny had warned him on how clever she could be.

With his teeth slightly gritted, Rudy asked softly, “A-A-And what’s the deal with the blindfold…?”

“I had that on so that you did not freak out at your own injuries. But if you would rather that I take it off…” Terry started to say.

Rudy shakingly nodded his head. “Yes, please…”

“All right then…”

Rudy flinched slightly as he could feel himself shrouded in darkness, a small pinch against his skin as Terry leaned in to undo the blindfold. He held as still as he could as Terry’s long-nailed fingers worked their way around the knot that held the cloth in its place. It took a few seconds, but soon, he could hear it tear open and with a single flung to the side, Terry removed the cloth. Immediately, Rudy had to turn his head to the side as light shined into his eyes. It wasn’t even that bright, but after having his eyes covered in darkness… After he shook his head a few times, his vision adjusted and he turned his gaze over towards to where Terry stood, breathing in and out slowly.

Terry definitely looked older than the last time he had seen her. She looked slightly disgruntled and dirtied, though not to a real bad degree. Her hair showed her age with the slight whiteness that it carried now. Her hand was against her hip and she was staring at him with a raised eyebrow, as though annoyed by him. But she didn’t look particularly hostile. This was almost gentle compared to the looks of contempt he had gotten from Penny.

“Is that better?” Terry asked.

Rudy attempted to respond, but instead just nodded his head.

“Good.” Terry relaxed her arm to her side and took a few steps around to his side. “May I start the procedure?”

“A-Are you a doctor?” Rudy blurted out.

Terry shook her head. “No, but I don’t plan on treating you. I’m just going to see how bad the damage is, from my perspective.” Terry looked at him up and down, her eyes going over him slowly. “You were knocked out when I found you and Skrawl did say that you were hurt by Sanchez.”

Rudy felt his eyes widen at this. “S-S-Skrawl brought you here?”

“To where you were being held? Yes.” Terry nodded her head curtly. “Both you and Sanchez were knocked out. Sanchez looked worse than you but since you were here longer…”

Rudy licked his lips slowly and swallowed hard. “Where is she…?”

“Sanchez? Skrawl took her somewhere. She’ll live. But I don’t know what else will happen.” It was hard to tell what Terry was feeling at that point. The look on her face painted her as being a little more distant about that situation, as though she herself didn’t know what she was going to do. But regardless, Terry quickly moved on from that as she gave Rudy a sideways glance. “So if you don’t mind, I would like to get started. This is for your own good, you know.”

Rudy started up at Terry as his mind still swirled with several thoughts. He tried to think of what he should do. He could just let Terry go through with this. She was going to have that power, anyway. Not like he could do anything. He might as well make it easier on the two of them.

But his mind was still echoing with the question of how she had gotten here at all and why she was interacting with Skrawl and what they planned on doing with Penny. These questions kept hovering around inside of his skull. There had to be a reason that she was able to get in here, and there had to be a plan of hers in order for her to come here. Just what the fuck was she going to do once this was all over?

For now, though, he would just have to do his best to keep calm and try to keep himself as calm as he possibly could be to protect himself. That did not mean that he wasn’t going to try to still get information from her, however.

He asked one question.

“How did you manage to get in here..?” Rudy’s voice was a low whisper.

Terry stared at him long and hard. She wasn’t glaring at him or anything, yet somehow, that look still sent chills down his spine. At first, Terry would only just look at him, but gave no indication of what she was going to do. The aura around them grew increasingly tense as time passed, and Rudy could have sworn that Terry was narrowing her eyes at him.

But was it out of frustration or anger?

Terry then turned her head away from him. “You have other things to worry over. Don’t thi…”

“Please just tell me… I promise I’ll be quiet if you tell me how you got in.” Rudy said quickly. He cringed when he saw Terry shooting a glare at him. He turned his head to the side and clenched his teeth tightly. “I swear, I…!”

“Okay, Tabootie. I will show you.” Terry sounded extremely annoyed. This made Rudy feel increasingly less safe around her. Perhaps he should have just kept his mouth shut to begin with. Terry reached into her pocket and pulled something out. She jabbed it in front of her a little roughly and snarled, “There! You happy now?”

Rudy felt himself gasp. “How did you get magic chalk..?”

“Forget about that!” Terry shoved the piece of magic chalk back into her pocket. “Just shut your trap so I can get this done and over with!”

Rudy shivered hard as he felt Terry’s anger pouring down from her body. He could feel his mind spinning and aching as he tried to keep himself calm. He licked his lip slowly and gave another nervous swallow. He didn’t even try to speak this time. He just nodded his head rigidly.

Terry let out a forced sigh. “Thank you..” And with that, Terry leaned forward to begin her examination of Rudy’s injuries. The young man held still, waiting for it to be over.

sss

Skrawl had no idea what he was doing. He was just following what Terry had ordered him to do. He did stop to think for a moment on why he was listening to yet another human. But he didn’t think about that too much and instead he focused on just getting this done and over with. He was scrambling around, trying to find something that he could use. It took him a while to find it, but when he did, he immediately headed over to where his ‘guest’ was.

Penny was still breathing, remarkably. He had taken notice of her wound earlier and he felt himself shudder and grab his own throat as he imagined the same thing happening to him. The wound was not fatal from what Terry said. But that was something that he could hardly believe himself. It did look like she lost a lot of blood.

Trying to do something to stop the bleeding wasn’t as easy as he thought it would be. With so much things in here made of chalk, how could he hope to stop the flow of a Real World fluid? He himself had to be very careful in how he handled her physically. It wouldn’t take much for him to hurt himself and he had already felt a few burns.

Skrawl did manage to find something that worked out. He could not remember where he got this cloth from, his mind too buzzed up with thoughts on what was going on now. But he still used it to help try to slow down the bleeding more, something that Terry herself had failed to do.

As he did this, he could feel himself starting to ask questions about why he was doing this. Should he even be doing this? He could just let her die or make her wound worse so that she would definitely perish. Then he would be unimpeded with his goal to rule ChalkZone. Rudy would become his prisoner and he would be able to do whatever he wanted with him. Wasn’t that something that he had wanted?

He wasn’t sure why he felt some hesitation with that. Was it because he had seen the way he was treated before and he felt so bad for him that he couldn’t bring himself to do anything to Rudy on his own? Or had he wussed out? Had he started to grow soft and it was starting to reflect in how he was acting now?

Skrawl tried to shake the thoughts out of his head for now. He shouldn’t be too worried about it at the moment. He had other things to concern himself with. He couldn’t just let the Chalk Queen die; Terry would likely figure it out and then she would be the one to punish him. Skrawl didn’t want to know what Terry would be capable of. Even if he did not feel some uncertainty with letting Penny die, perhaps partially due to what happened when Penny was nearly killed by those zoners, he would still feel obliged to do this just from Terry alone.

Skrawl pushed the cloth a little more firmly against Penny’s neck. He flinched as he could feel some of the blood soaking in deeply enough to touch his skin. He pulled his hand away to let the cloth drop down. He reached down and grabbed it again. Then he placed it back to its original position and held it firmly there.

As he did this, he tried to think of what he was going to do after this. What was his goal going to be? He felt increasingly uncertain, given all that has happened lately. He realized that he could hardly stay as committed as he used to. Perhaps he should have done what Craniac was before he dragged him into all of this. Just remain obedient and keep himself from doing anything against the Chalk Queen. Perhaps if he had done that, he wouldn’t be facing such conflicting thoughts in his mind.

Skrawl pulled the cloth back and took a look at it. He could see the dark redness forming and how much darker it was getting each time he put it against the woman’s neck. But at least the bleeding seemed to be finally stopping. Penny was still alive, just like Terry wanted her to be. But now that he was finally succeeding, what was he going to do?

Perhaps he should find some way to restrain her. If Penny woke up, and she saw him here, she might fight against her tiredness to get at him. And given what’s happened before, he was not interested in what she’d do next.

He dropped the cloth to the side and wiped his brow. Now that he had taken care of the bleeding, he needed to do something quick before she would wake up. He turned his head from side to side as he scrambled to find something to help him out. He soon stopped and furrowed his eyes deeply. Perhaps he shouldn't have dragged the Chalk Queen into his own room. It wasn’t like he was going to have a lot of stuff that he could work with.

He could hear a small moan behind him and he realized that he was already too late. He swerved his head over to see that Penny’s eyes were fluttering open. They still looked rather distant, as though she could not actually see much of what was going on. She moved around a little bit, her fingers raising up and trembling. Then she just seemed to collapse again and her eyes shut. Skrawl watched her carefully for any more movements, but she was just still and quiet.

Skrawl scratched the side of his head. Just what had gone on here? He had thought for sure that she was going to wake up. Perhaps he had been a little premature with that worry. Shaking his head, he refocused his attention on figuring out how to restrain Penny.

After all, it was not just for his safety. Terry had instructed him in making sure that Penny did not go anywhere. She apparently wanted to take her back with her when she returned to the Real World. She wanted to be able to take Penny to the authorities or something like that. He didn’t quite get all that Terry had said. He just knew that she would not be happy if he did not ensure that Penny remained alive and restrained.

He was then reminded of the fact that Penny was wearing a scarf. He didn’t know how he could have forgotten about that detail. It was sitting right there in front of him. But he wasted no time in scolding himself for this oversight. He instead just focused on getting it off of her and beginning the process of repurposing it for a better goal: keeping her trapped with him.

And so Skrawl began his work on that. He started with tearing the cloth into two pieces. Then he knelt down to tie her wrists and ankles together. This should hold her well enough, right?

sss

“I just don’t get it. Why would you help me?”

“Why are you asking that?”

“I’m just so confused… Wouldn’t you have preferred that I…”

“I’m not cold-blooded, you know.”

“I know, but..”

“Please just be quiet. I’m risking enough time as it is. Let me think on what we need to do next.”

It was difficult for Rudy to do what Terry wanted him to. He didn’t know just how silent that he could really be on what was going on. But he still at least tried to listen to Terry.

Rudy did his best to stay silent as he followed Terry down the hallway. But it was more difficult than he thought it would be. For all that she claimed that she was trying to help him, she wasn’t doing a good job with showing it. She kept moving out pretty quickly in front of him, keeping up a brisk pace the whole time. It was clear that she was in a hurry to get out of here. But she should at least try to slow down for him so that he didn’t break his leg or something trying to stay within a few feet of her.

At least she did give him a walker to help speed things up. He found this to be more efficient than a simple cane. He held onto the walker as tightly as he could, pushing himself forward. There were times when he did need to stop and rest. But all in all, he felt he was doing a pretty good job with it, all things considered. He just wished that there was a faster way of using it so that he could better keep up with Terry.

He had no idea where they were going. Terry didn’t tell him. He didn’t know if she was taking him to Penny, somewhere else, or whatever. And he wasn’t entirely sure if he would trust what she said or not. Perhaps that’s why she said nothing. Perhaps she knew that he would be skeptical of whatever she told him.

He still didn’t know precisely what she wanted, which made this situation even tougher. Well she did try to say something. But he wasn’t sure if he could believe it or not. He still wanted to think that there had to be an ulterior motive about this situation or something. It was the only thing that made sense to him.

But though he hadn’t thanked her, instead choosing to keep it to himself, he did appreciate what she did for him anyway. He liked that she did draw him something to help get around better and he did like that she checked his injuries for him. She did precisely what she said she would do and that was just check. She didn’t attempt to treat something that she knew that she could not. Rudy would prefer treatment, but he was relieved to know that none of his wounds were mortal.

Though to what degree that helped him feel better, mileage did vary. Terry did mention a swelling in his chest and he had a feeling it was his broken rib. Just thinking about it sent stabbing pains throughout his chest, making him stop and jerk a few times. He had to struggle to keep moving, grinding his teeth together and seething through them. He kept moving along, his head spinning about and aching. That was all that he could do.

Soon they were at the end of the hallway, staring down two new paths to go through. Rudy remained still for a few seconds, feeling a sense of familiarity. This was where he had gone before. He knew where one direction went. But...Terry was going down the other...

“H-Hey...I thought we...” Rudy started to say.

“Shush!” Terry swung her head over and glared at him. She then retracted herself, as though realizing she had reacted a little too harshly. She let out a small sigh and said, “There’s someone else we need to pick up first.”

Rudy blinked at this. “Wh....” His eyes widened. It didn’t take long for realization to strike his head. “Y-You mean...?”

Terry said nothing. She just merely nodded her head. She motioned to him to quickly follow. Rudy was frozen for a few seconds as he tried to comprehend the situation. He soon shook his head and he rushed himself to follow her, closing in the gap.

As they continued, Rudy couldn’t help but think about this situation over and over again in his mind. He found it difficult to believe. Why would Terry... Did she even know what she was... Then again, it did make sense. She did say that Penny was with Skrawl and she mentioned something about ‘she’ll live’. So maybe Terry wanted to get her as well. Rudy felt a little silly not realizing this sooner.

But that still left the door open to what could happen. Terry had a piece of magic chalk somehow, and she had a pathway in here. After she did this, what was going to happen next?

Those thoughts exited his mind as soon as he could see they had arrived at their destination. Rudy stopped as he saw Terry raising her hand up. She was moving in closer, as though to make sure that the coast was clear. After a few seconds of leaning in and peering in through the door, Terry finally made the gesture for him to come forward.

Rudy nearly tripped over himself when he saw Skrawl holding onto what was rapidly revealed to be an unconscious Penny. He wasn’t sure what to think and he was just rigid in shock. He found it difficult to tear his eyes away from the sight.

Penny was tied up. It appeared that Skrawl had used some kind of cloth to secure her limbs, ensuring that she couldn’t do anything to get away. She was still out cold, but appeared to have been stabilized. Despite what she had done to him, Rudy still couldn’t help but feel a slight flinch etching into his face when he saw her present condition. He focused mostly on that neck wound that he was responsible for. He bit his lip. He wondered if he would be responsible for the death of a fellow human.

“I see you have her secured. Good.” Terry said. She took a step forward. She motioned out towards the large jellybean. “And I take it you will make sure I get my end of the bargain?”

Skrawl nodded his head. “Of course.”

Rudy immediately gaped at this. “Wh-What bargain...?”

Terry gave him a backwards glance. “You don’t need to worry about that, Tabootie.”

“I...”

“Just shut up! We need to get going before Sanchez wakes up. It’ll make things a lot easier.”

Rudy wanted to try asking more questions. But he immediately stifled himself. He merely just nodded his head, consenting to what Terry wanted. There was nothing else that he could do. Not like he was in any position to ask questions, now was he?

Skrawl moved in closer and moved Penny’s unconscious form to the woman. “I’ll let you take things from here. I should check up on Craniac. He’s going to want to hear the news.” He paused for a moment, and then said, “As well as some of the others.”

“Okay then. I’ll leave that to you.” Terry frowned for a moment, as though making sure that Skrawl got her silent message about the deal they apparently made. Skrawl understood it immediately, indicated by Terry’s nod and smile. Then she swung her head to where Rudy was and started to make her way forward. “Come on, Tabootie. We need to get going.”

Rudy watched as Terry walked past her. He gripped his walker tighter and forced himself to turn around. Then he started to walk behind her. He tried to stay silent, but there was one thing that he still needed to know. And he could not stay silent about it for too long. “Just where are we going?”

Terry responded after a few moments of silence. “We’re going back to the Real World.”

Rudy nearly tripped over his feet when Terry said that. He watched her in utter silence, unable to comprehend what he just heard. He had to shake his head to get back to reality and force himself to follow before he lost her.

But even after he forced himself to walk with Terry, he still could feel his head buzzing with thoughts. He still found it hard to believe that’s where Terry wanted to take him. His gut twisted up inside and burned and stung as he thought of the reasons Terry might do this. Each thought caused his fears to rise up continuously, making it difficult for him to breathe.

Was Terry plotting to kick him and Penny out of ChalkZone...? Was she going to take over herself...? Was this just part one of her plan to dominate...? To let other people in and the zones being brought under a worse regime than what Penny had offered...?

Rudy swallowed bitterly, feeling his heart skipping several beats. Even though he still had the chalk, by some miracle, he wasn’t sure if he would be prepared to take on Terry when the time came.

But in the end, whatever he did, he hoped that it would be enough.

sss

Stepping outside into the open filled Rudy up with a mixture of emotions and tense feelings. He still expected Craniac to show up out of nowhere to attack him. The memory of that made him coming at him the way that he had, the fact that he had wanted to kill him... Rudy shuddered and gritted his teeth tightly. It didn’t matter how many times that he reminded himself of what Penny did with Craniac. He still feared that he was going to come in to try to kill him.

But despite his fears, he had to force himself to keep moving foward. He could feel just how rigid his legs were and how much harder he needed to push to continue forward. But regardless, he was making very slow progress, Terry still out in front of him and within his sights. He struggled to keep following her, breathing heavily through his opened up mouth.

After a few minutes of pushing himself, Rudy had to stop, needing to rest for a moment. He could feel his muscles aching, feeling like they were stretched too hard and too long. He shook his head once and he stared over at Terry. The woman looked over her shoulder and glared softly at him.

“Come on, Tabootie! No time to dilly dally! We need to head back! I’m pushing things as it is!”

“What are you...” Rudy had to stop to take in a few more deep breaths. “...talking about...?”

Terry snarled at him, “That isn’t of your concern! Just hurry it up!”

Rudy let out a small sigh. Despite his muscles still acing him, he forced himself to move forward at Terry’s command. Better that than have her dragging him herself. “Can you at least tell me where we are going?”

Terry hissed, “I just told you! The Real World!”

“Yes, I know that! But where specifically are we going to get there?” Rudy called out to her.

Terry looked annoyed by this question. But despite that, she still answered him. “To some hideout or something. But nevermind that! Just get a move on! Before...” She stopped herself. She shook her head once and then she rushed herself forward, signalling to Rudy to hurry himself up as well.

Many questions echoed inside of Rudy’s head at the sight of this. He could feel his mind asking himself over and over what was going on. But he tried to shake it off and get himself to follow...

...and then that was when he felt himself tumble forward a little. He could feel dizziness striking him in the face, his world becoming unstable and undone. He yelped as he felt his head hitting up against the hard metal that made up his walker. He seethed through clenched teeth as he gripped his head. The pain was rapidly joined in by his other injuries and rapidly immobilized him.

“Tabootie?!” Gasped Terry. “What happened?!”

Rudy didn’t dare answer. He just stayed there, trying to keep himself as still as possible. Maybe if he held still long enough, he could force the pain to go away. But it seemed to stay put, no matter what he did.

He could barely hear Terry’s footfalls as she approached him quickly. He could feel her hand on his shoulder, and that was when he forced himself to look up at her. He was not sure how to read her expression. But he could tell that there was something there when she started to call out to him.

“Did you trip?”

Rudy nodded his head.

A sigh came from Terry’s mouth. “Well come on then. Get up so that we can get going. We don’t want to waste any further time here.” The woman held out her hand so that Rudy could grab it. The boy hesitated for a few moments. He gritted his teeth, and the hesitation made Terry snarl. “Hurry it up!”

Rudy flinched at this and then forced himself to grab the woman’s hand. She gripped his wrist tightly and then pulled back hard. Rudy let out a small yelp as he was forced back up to his feeth. There was a bit of a wobble, but he quickly managed to correct his posture.

“Uh...thanks...?” He said to Terry, unsure of what else to tell her.

“Nevermind it.” Terry told him. She swerved her head in one direction. “We should continue on our way.”

Rudy nodded his head, despite being unsure, and he limped his way behind Terry, holding onto his walker firmly. The two of them made their way to where Terry had set Penny on the ground. The woman took the girl into her arms and then continued on her way.

Rudy didn’t get too far when he could hear a sound behind him. A loud squawk that rang familiarity all over his head. He felt his body freeze as he turned his head to look behind him. It didn’t take long to notice the large condor zoner flying overhead, moving in broad circles.

“Oh shit...” He could hear Terry say. He turned to see that Terry was getting her magic chalk out already. “Stand back, I’ll...”

“Wait. I think she can help us.”

“What are you talking about, Tabootie?”

Rudy knew that this was going to be a long shot. He didn’t know just how loyal this bird was to Penny, nor did he know just how much she really understood him. He wanted to believe that she could understand him well enough. And he also hoped that she did not think that either of them had hurt Penny. He didn’t want to think of what those massive claws would do.

Rudy felt a flash of pain and he felt his balance wavering a little. He had to fight back and struggle to push it aside. Once he was able to regain his control, he turned his attention back to the condor and took a step closer towards her. He motioned his hand out towards her cautiously, and he called out her name.

“H-Hey Courtney! Remember me?” Rudy paused to swallow hard. “C-Come here..!”

Almost immediately, the circling vulture zoner came down towards them. Terry immediately raised her chalk in self defense. Rudy raised his arm up to prevent her from going any further. He kept his eyse on Courtney, his eyes refusing to leave hers, not even when the zoner landed in front of him and stared at him with her body towering over his. The two of them looked at each other in silence and Rudy had to work up the courage to even say anything to her.

“We need your help, Courtney.” Rudy seethed as he felt another wave of pain. He leaned forward, one of his feet partially buckling. He shook his head and he looked back up at Courtney. He could see the way that her held tilted to the side. “We need get back to the Real World. I...” He stopped himself and looked over his shoulder. Realizing whom Courtney would respond more for, he said, “..Penny...” Oh gawd it felt so wrong to say her name ike that. “...needs help...”

Courtney’s feathers immediately roughled at this. She released a few small cooes as she lifted her head up to stare at where Penny was. Her eyes registered a sense of sadness and concern and she stared to head for her.

“No!” Rudy waved his arms out in front of her. The large bird gave an irritated squawk and glared down at him. “I’m sorry, but you can’t come with us! Please...” He lowered his hands and looked at the bird zoner pleadingly. “Help us. Can you do that?”

There was some silence as the bird zoner just stared at him. There was no motion, no sort of reaction. Just silence.

Terry let out a disgruntled sigh. “This is a waste of time. Let’s just...”

Just then, Courtney cut her off with a loud squawk, her wings spreading open. This was enough to make the humans stumble back. It almost looked as though she was about to launch herself right at them. But instead, Courtney merely moved forward quickly, her wings folding against her body as she went, and then she opened her beak to snagged Penny into the air. She then looked down at the two humans, her expression almost seeming to call out to them ‘what are you waiting for’.

This did make Rudy smile a little, even if Terry didn’t quite know what to think of it. Rudy realized that this might be easier than he thought. He stretched himself a little as he started to make his way over towards the pair.

But he never got that far.

Without warning, a sharp pain suddenly struck his body, making it freeze up solid. He could feel a burning, sharp pain rushing up and down, keeping him in a vice lock. His legs could no longer keep him standing, his chest feeling like it was being lit on fire. Then he collapsed against the ground, holding his stomach and whimpering in pain.

He lifted his head up and he could see Terry rushing towards him. His vision started to blur and he closed his eyes tightly. He curled up into a tighter ball and seethed heavily. The pain dominated his mind, and he had to struggle, fight for his life, to keep himself awake.


	30. Echoing In The Mind

“She wanted what?”

“I didn’t have much of a choice. I had to do something!”

“But you know how risky that was! What if...”

“Don’t worry about it. I will think of something.”

“You’d better...for all of our sakes...”

Although the robotic zoner could be irritating, and though his ordeal with Penny hadn’t seemed to hinder his tone, Skrawl couldn’t deny that he did have a good point. Craniac was the first one that really pointed out to Skrawl the dangers of the deal that he had just made with some random human he had just met. Especially since that human was someone that even Penny wouldn’t dare allow into this world.

Okay, so perhaps Rapsheeba did say something to him about it. But no matter. It didn’t change what happened now and he shrugged it off from his mind. He knew what situation he had gotten himself into now. All that he could do now was just live with it.

He honestly hadn’t seen it as a terrible idea at first. It did seem like it could help. He did need some kind of assistance in getting Penny out of ChalkZone. He had included Rudy in on this deal so that he would have ChalkZone under his control. He did realize that it might be harder to get the zoners to respect him. But perhaps under the weight of Penny’s shocking mass murder combined with the enforcers that Craniac had could help leverage his control more completely.

But he had to consider now if this was worth it or not. Should he have gone with this sort of path? Should he have agreed to help Terry get what she wanted? After all, it might have seemed small, but in the long run, it could transform into something bigger. Something that might tear him apart from the inside out if he overstepped his boundaries.

The thing that Terry had wanted...

....was a slice of ChalkZone for herself...

“I still can’t believe that you did that!” Craniac motioned his hand towards him. His body gave a few twitches, matching the damage that adorned him, all the burn marks that laid upon him. Even his voice was distorted. “How could you have a-a-agreed to that?”

Skrawl snarled, “Well it sounded like a good idea at the time! She proposed that I cut off a section of ChalkZone for her and she could do whatever she wanted with it.” He held his hand up in gesture. “That way, it would only be that small part that would get exposed.”

Craniac shook his head. A few sparks spread out a few times with these movements. “You’re such a d-d-dope! Do you r-realize that you’re just c-c-creating the first st-st-stepping stone to a whole horde of creators c-coming in here?”

Skrawl opened his mouth to speak. But Craniac was not yet done.

“Th-Th-Think about it, you p-p-peabrain! For a genius, you really did not think things through! I-If she gets comfortable with her space, what if she w-w-wants more? She c-c-could expand outward, and soon...”

Skrawl’s eyes widened for a moment and then they narrowed into slits. Though he understood the threat that Craniac was talking about, he still tried to push it aside as nothing as serious as Craniac was making it out to be. “I just won’t give her more space then.”

“But you already l-l-let her walk away with m-magic chalk. You already o-opened the doors up to hell.” Craniac raised his arm up slowly, clipping the two ends of his claw together a couple of times. “Y-You know what they say. G-G-Give enough l-leeway to someone, and they just walk a-a-all over you. This is j-just the beginning. I g-g-guarantee you that this woman will keep extortioning you for more and more space, and she won’t stop until she’s consumed e-e-e-everything...”

That seemed like such a doomsday scenario that only someone like Craniac could dream up. Or even Rudy. But he also knew that he could be right on this. Terry might use this as a chance to spread out further. After all, if he agreed to give her some land in the first place, what is to stop her from trying to get more? She might start off small and it just adds up quickly over time. And it just keeps getting worse and worse and...

Skrawl tried not to let himself think about it too much. There was nothing that he could do about the deal. He couldn’t just back out on it. He was aware that, even without magic chalk, the woman was dangerous. She might find a way to draw something into this world as payback for him not giving her what she wanted. He would avoid that trouble by giving in to her demands.

But he was only awakening a hell that would indeed get worse over time. He had opened up the flood gates, torn off the lid of the can of worms, and all he could do was experience the aftermath of it all.

And it would not have happened if he had just killed Terry in the first place.

“So what are you going to do now?”

Skrawl turned his head and gave a sideways glance to Craniac. He kept himself quiet for a few moments as he pondered that question. He could not seem to get it out of his head nor could he figure out what kind of response that he should give. No matter what he tried, there was only one thing that he felt could be done.

“We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”

Craniac sighed. “I hope you kn-know what you’re d-d-doing this time...”

Skrawl did not answer that statement.

sss

The Real World… He never thought that he would ever end up back here. He never thought that something like this would ever happen. Everything around him felt so fake, felt so foreign. He almost expected that something would pop up and cruelly twist the reality around him, perhaps make him realize that it was just a dream.

But none of this happened as Rudy made his way down the street. He kept himself close behind Terry, who was guiding him somewhere, Penny still in her arms. He could feel the weird stares being put on them, mostly Terry. None of the people here seemed to recognize who he was. A part of him was glad for that. It would have surely slowed things down.

Just how he felt about being here, and if he should… He was trying to keep those thoughts to himself, shoving them aside for the time being. He could always worry about that later. Right now, he just wanted to enjoy this moment. He had forgotten what it felt like to breathe in air that was not chalky. He forgot what the real sun felt like on his body. He had forgotten about the immense detail that adorned the Real World versus ChalkZone. It was just all so...different. He almost felt like he was on an alien planet despite the fact that he had been born here.

How long has it been? Fifteen years? A decade and a half of not seeing or being in this world’s presence. He wondered what he had forgotten and what he had missed.

Apparently he had started to slow down a little bit, as he heard Terry’s voice calling out to him, “Don’t stand there and sight-see, Tabootie! Come on, we have to get to the hospital!”

Rudy shook his head at this, realizing what he was doing. He turned his head to where Terry was. He grabbed his walker and pushed himself forward. It didn’t take him long to reach Terry’s side again. “Sorry… I guess I…”

“I just don’t want you to collapse like you did back in ChalkZone.” Terry told him. “I’m sure you don’t want another attack like that.”

Rudy shuddered as he remembered that incident. The pain had come onto him so suddenly and so swiftly, he had little chance to react to it. It had incapacitated him and rendered him unable to move or anything. His vision had been distorted due to the agony and he had hardly been aware of what Terry had done. He thought for sure that he had passed out because a chunk of his memory was missing. All that he was aware of was that eventually, the pain had subsided and he was back on his feet.

The only good thing about that attack is that it did give a stronger sense of urgency in Terry and she had sped things along. Getting back into the Real World took less time than it originally would have. So that was some positive news in all of this.

He could feel a small sting in his chest and he clenched his teeth tightly. Now everytime he could feel that, he expected himself to collapse. He had to keep fighting it and keep moving forward. He also tried to fight against the dull ache spreading along his head and the sense of chilliness that created so many goosebumps on his skin.

This was still all so surreal to him. He still could not tell if this was reality or fantasy. He was still not sure how he should feel about being here and what he was going to do. This was not a situation he ever thought that he would be in. And even though he had longed for freedom, now that he had a shot at it...did he even want it? It was a weird thing to ask. But he had gotten so used to being in one room all the time, so used to seeing only one person, he had forgotten what it was like to interact with other people. Was he prepared for this sort of thing?

Up ahead, he could see the tall building of the hospital rapidly approaching. He licked his lips slowly, feeling just how dry they were, how his throat stung him badly. They were getting closer rather quickly. For some reason, his mind was registering it pretty slowly, and everything around him was moving at a much slower pace. It was so bad that when they did arrive at the doors, he thought that there had to be another time skip.

“Come on, Tabootie! We’re almost there!” Terry snarled at him. “Just come in through the doors. Don’t bother worrying about how people will look at you.”

Rudy paused for a moment as he stood in front of the door. It was one thing walking down the street, but this place is going to have a lot more people in it. How many of them are going to recognize who he was? What kind of chaos was he going to unleash in a city that believed him dead for fifteen years? His head ached and throbbed at the thought.

He soon managed to shake it off and he forced himself forward. He managed to get the door open and pushed himself through, rejoining Terry and the unconscious Penny. The door banged loudly behind them. But Rudy hardly paid attention to that, given what they had walked into.

They were immediately in a large waiting room area, with several people looking at them, just as Rudy thought would happen. Terry didn’t seem to care, despite claiming to be worried about the mental institution realizing she was gone. She seemed confident about something...but Rudy’s mind hardly focused on that. He could feel himself cringing slightly as he made his way towards the front desk where a woman standing behind the glass wall was staring at them in shock.

“What happened, miss?” The woman immediately asked as she opened up the glass window to talk.

Terry cleared her throat and seemed to be putting on her best impression to be as worried as possible. “I found these two…”

As Terry started to explain the situation however she was able to, Rudy became aware of someone moving in behind him. But he was only able to sense the shadow and feel some sense of being watched before a hand grabbed onto his shoulder. His body immediately jerked and he pulled his head back, letting out a loud cry of shock. This was enough to silence Terry and the receptionist and they were now looking at him as well.

Rudy turned his head and he stared at who it was. He could see some woman standing behind him. She was looking at him with great earnest, her mouth dropping open and eyebrow raised with confusion and uncertainty. Rudy noticed some familiar features on the woman, but he was not able to fully grasp who this was.

The woman just kept staring at him. It looked as though she was having trouble recognizing him as well. She was staring into his soul practically, her furrowed eyes looking at him up and down. Rudy kept himself as still as possible, unsure of how to handle this. He half-expected Terry to intervene and he was surprised when she still remained quiet.

Then the woman looked over and her body slowly raised up. She put her hands to her mouth and gave a sharp gasp. “P-Penita..?”

It was at this that a train wreck struck against his skull. Was this… Mrs. Sanchez..?

The woman immediately rushed over to where Terry was. Her eyes remained on the slightly smaller human being held up by the older woman. There were noticeable tears in her eyes and her body trembled hard, most noticeable in her fingertips.

“What happened to her…?” The woman, whom Rudy could no longer doubt was Mrs. Sanchez at this point, reached her hand out to touch Penny’s ‘sleeping’ face. “Wh-Who did this…?”

Terry looked at her with a slightly saddened expression. “She and Rudy both need help.”

“Rudy..?” Mrs. Sanchez’s body snapped and shook at this. Her head turned so sharply it looked like it would have easily broken. Now Rudy could feel the full force of that gaze upon him and he felt himself cringing slightly as she approached him. “Rudy Tabootie…?” The woman whispered under her breath as she looked at him again. “My gawd… It is you… I-I-I thought you were…”

Rudy flinched at this and lowered his head. He wanted to say something. But just what could he say to this?

Terry spoke up, breaking the moment between the two. “We have much to discuss.”

“Y-Yes, of course..” Mrs. Sanchez took a step back. She averted her gaze from Rudy. “My apologies…”

Rudy was only partially aware of Terry attempting to speak to the receptionist about getting him and Penny in. His eyes still remained on Mrs. Sanchez. Though the woman had taken a step back to let this stuff go through, he could still sense that she wanted to say more, to find out more of what happened. He could practically see her body shaking slightly as she was getting eager to ask more questions. It must be taking all of her strength to keep her mouth shut.

Rudy wondered just what he was going to tell her. What was he going to say? That her daughter was a monster? That she had enslaved an entire race? That she was the reason why he hadn’t been back in the Real World for so long? How was she going to handle something like that?

He had no idea. But he did know that, in the end, he had to tell Mrs. Sanchez something. He just...had no idea what that was going to be.

sss

Penny’s eyes slowly fluttered open and she looked left and right slowly. Her vision was blurred heavily, but it wasn’t so bad that she couldn’t tell she was in a white, pale-colored room. She could discern that there were some strange smells around here and some sounds that felt like they were echoing inside of her head. And everything in general was just confusing.

It took her brain a few seconds to shrug off some of its grogginess for her to get some sense of where she was. This was a...hospital, wasn’t it? She gritted her teeth, her eyes clenching shut tightly, as she tried to force herself up. A wave of dizziness struck her down, and it was then that she realized she was attached to some machines. Her mind also started to get suddenly tired and she realized that she must have more tired than she thought. She almost fell back asleep right then and there.

She struggled to keep herself still and fought against the dizziness and the small bits of pain that started to dominate her mind. She also tried to push back against the burning thoughts of figuring out just who had brought her here and what had happened. It did feel like her brain was struggling to find out. But it was moving so slowly that she didn’t know when she would find out or if she ever would.

But perhaps that was not going to be an issue. She noticed that there was someone approaching her door. The shadows were drawing closer and she could hear the voice getting increasingly louder. The door was soon pushed open and she could see the young male doctor walking in.

The doctor approached her slowly. “Hello there, Ms. Sanchez. How are you feeling?”

“...confused...dizzy..” Penny managed to breathe.

“Ah, that’s understandable. You were out for a while.” The doctor said.

“How long?” Penny asked as she fought against her grogginess.

“At least a week.”

Penny’s eyes widened in shock at this. “A-A-A week? Are you s-sure?”

The doctor nodded his head slowly.

Penny lowered her head at this realization. She suddenly felt a little more awake as her head spun in circles, making her feel uneasy. She took in a few slow breaths, everything around her just feeling heavier and more difficult to comprehend. She couldn’t help but constantly ask herself over and over again just how this could have happened. How could she have been out for that long?

Then she felt a sharp jolt when she remembered that there was someone with her before she had fallen into blackness. Just a vague memory, but that was enough for her to give a name.

“Wh-Where’s Rudy…?”

The doctor replied, “He is fine at the moment.”

“Th-That’s…” Penny immediately stopped herself when she realized that this meant. Rudy was back in the Real World. The realization made her head feel heavy like a rock had been stuffed up inside. She remained silent as she contemplated what this meant, what this was implying.

So many questions went through her head. The sudden realization of this fact had pushed away more grogginess from her, enough that she realized how huge this was. Rudy back here? In The Real World? How did the people here react? Had Rudy told them anything? Did they know that he was held prisoner? Did they learn of ChalkZone? She wasn’t able to stop the barrage of questions from overflowing inside of her head.

The only thing that stopped her was another wave of dizziness overcoming her. It served as a reminder that she had not fully recovered. She could feel her eyes burning, her throat aching and…

It was only at this point that Penny realized just how raspy her voice was and how she could barely speak up much at all. And she could not fully remember this neck pain and how it came about. Did she hit it? Did she twist it by mistake? She slowly rose her hand towards her neck and felt around it. She realized it was covered in some kind of cloth and just a light pressure was enough to make her shudder in pain and pull her hand away.

The doctor explained, “You had a pretty deep gash there. We did what we could to treat it. But you still lost quite a bit of blood. It may take a while for all of your strength to return.”

Penny forced herself to nod her head so that the doctor knew that she comprehended what he was saying. But that did not mean that she was too comfortable with this news. So many questions still swirled around in her head, making it ache and tremble. So much felt like it was happening at once. She realized that she was knocked out for several days and Rudy was back in the Real World. It was almost like some sort of nightmare.

...was Rudy responsible for this..?

The thought immediately sent a burning sensation in her skin. Though still too groggy to fully remember all of the details, she was at least still aware that Rudy just might be desperate enough to do something like that. And she had a feeling that, as time went on, it was only going to get increasingly apparent.

But for the time being, she realized that she was not going to be able to do much. At least all this rest and not doing anything would give her time to think and time to plan. Well when she was better and more able to think straight, that is.

She did freeze for a moment when she thought about ChalkZone and what would happen there. She had a feeling that King Skrawl had taken over in the meantime. Though she had repeatedly disciplined him and though he had seen what she was capable of….with those zoners… Penny looked down at her hand and recalled that event oh so well. She gritted her teeth tightly and closed her hand firmly. She forced out a small sigh.

Regardless, King Skrawl may be trying to take full power away from her and no doubt was doing to use her week of absence to his advantage. Meanwhile, Rudy was somewhere in this hospital building and she had no clue just what kind of information he just spilled. She tried not to bite her tongue. She needed a plan for this. But what was she going to do?

“By the way, your mother wants to see you sometime today. You can expect her to visit shortly.”

Penny stammered weakly. “M-My mom…?”

The doctor nodded his head. “But before she gets here, I would like to run some things by you. It relates to your condition, what we had to do, and what you can look forward to.” He motioned his hand towards her. “Do you mind if I tell you now or do you want to wait?”

Penny nodded her head. “I’d like t-to... hear it.. n-now, if that’s all right.” She flinched and rubbed her neck carefully.

“Okay then…” The doctor spoke. “Well from what we can gather…”

sss

“Penita…” Her mother’s voice was low and soft. It was like she wanted to be extra careful that she did not hurt her, despite not even touching her right now. “I’m...so glad to see you awake..”

Penny did her best to smile. “H-Hello, mom.. I’m glad...t-to see you t-t-too…” She had to stop herself and give a few small coughs. She realized that she probably should not be speaking too much at the moment. She was only going to make her condition worse if she did.

“Shh shh...please don’t talk..” Her mother moved in closer to her. Her arms moved closer to her, and then she froze, as though she realized what she had almost done. She bit her lip firmly and then she put her hand on Penny’s bandaged up arm lightly. “Please try to relax. It’ll all be fine. I promise…”

Penny nodded her head shakenly and did her best to remain quiet.

But that was getting increasingly difficult. She didn’t know how long she had been here. Without any sort of sense of time, she might have been here for days for all that she knew. There wasn’t anything to do aside from watching television and that got boring quickly. She mostly just laid down in silence, drowning in her thoughts. She bit her lip firmly a few times and she thought she had broken the skin. She tried to sort out her own thoughts and feelings but nothing would really help all that much.

There had been no indication from her mother yet whether or not Rudy had said anything to her regarding how she had treated him. But given how sweetly she was still treating her, perhaps that was a fear that she could set aside for now. She doubted that her mother would still act this way if she knew about that.

But how would she react if she did learn of it? The thought made her cringe and shudder. She might not have been as close to her mother as she should have lately. But even then, the idea of having her mother turn against her… It was something that she just wasn’t prepared for. She didn’t want to start seeing her mother as an enemy.

Then again, with how she acted earlier…

Penny tried to shake those thoughts out of her mind for now. She couldn’t focus on that too much. She didn’t want her mother seeing her worried facial expressions and try to ask more of what was happening. She didn’t want to be dragged into that conversation. She was not ready.

Instead, she shifted the topic to something else. Despite her mother’s wishes, she spoke weakly, “I-I-Is R-Rudy still o-o-okay…?”

Her mother put her finger against her lips to shush her. “Please stay quiet, Penita.” She moved her hand away. “And as for Rudy...yes, he’s...fine…” There was clear hesitation in her voice and Penny didn’t know how to take it. The woman turned her head away and said, “Th-They did say that he had a bad infection that he’s struggling to fight off. They’re using whatever they can, but…” She looked down at Penny and seemed to notice her expression. “B-B-But don’t worry! Th-They think they can get it under control!”

“I-Infection….?” Penny whispered coarsely.

Her mom nodded her head. “Broken rib that wasn’t treated. It kept irritating him and there was a whole pool of bacteria that was growing and..” She bit her fingertips. “That poor boy… I can’t imagine what kind of havoc that bacteria had wreaked on his body.”

Penny could feel her body twist and yank in guilt. She struggled not to let herself throw up at the realization that this infection had been caused by her. She was the one who had insisted that he stay in ChalkZone. As a result, this had allowed the bacteria to fester. She didn’t know what else was specifically wrong with him in regards to that, but she could already imagine the troubles he was experiencing.

She started to wonder just how bad the infection was. She wondered how far it had spread in his body. She didn’t believe for a second that her painkillers were really helping. The problem itself hadn’t been treated. It was just left in there and allowed to grow continuously worse.

And she herself might have noticed it, but she still refused to do anything about it… She put her hand to her mouth and she could feel her stomach bubbling and churning up inside.

What had she done..?

“Penita…?” Her mother whispered. Upon seeing Penny’s torn expression, her mother furrowed her eyes with concern. She leaned in a little closer and attempted to hug her the best that she could. “It’ll be okay… The doctors are doing what they can for the two of you… I-I don’t know this all could have happened… I was t-t-told so little… But I am glad to see that you two are still alive.”

Penny nodded her head at this. She couldn’t think of anything to say to contradict her mother. And why would she? It was obvious that she was right. If she had lost Rudy even in spite of what he did, of how she treated him, she… Penny wasn’t able to finish her thought process.

A bit of silence came into the room, locking the two women up in it. Neither of them said a word. The time ticked by very slowly, leaving both of them in silence. It grew increasingly uncomfortable and tense and Penny had a hard time holding herself still. She tried to settle herself down the best that she could. But how could she? It was she who…

She tried to turn her head away and stared off in one direction. She squeezed her eyes shut and seethed through clenched teeth. She took in a few heavy breaths. She thought she could hear her mother calling out to her in confusion. But she said not a word.

But someone else did.

“So the truth unfolds… You monster…”

Penny stifled a gasp when she heard that familiar voice. She looked up and it didn’t take her long to see ‘Snap’s’ reflection against the metal rim that covered the light above her. He stared down at her with his face twisted into a dark, almost evil smile. The look of it was almost enough to make her scream, yet she managed to hold still and keep herself as still as possible. But her eyes still glowed in fear and ‘Snap’ could see that easily.

“You thought you could run from it, didn’t you? Thought you could hide..” ‘Snap’ mocked her. “Have you learned nothing? Or do you want to continue deluding yourself into thinking it will all be okay? How very sad…”

“Penny? What’s wrong..?”

Penny hardly heard her mother’s voice as her breathing grew quicker. She blurted out, “L-Leave me a-a-alone!”

“Penita, what’s wrong?!”

Her mother’s words fell on deaf ears. Penny could not hear her in that moment. All that she could do was squirm and twist her body where she was, struggling to get away from the voice of ‘Snap’ taunting her, his eyes still glaring right into her soul. She felt her teeth becoming so tightly clenched that she thought they were going to crack. And this seemed to continue for several moments, leaving her with no reprieve or way to escape.

“You know the truth, traitor… You know what you did and you can’t hide from it… All you can do now to cure yourself of the guilt is by the way of the knife.. You know what you can do about that…”

Penny clutched her head tightly. She flinched as she felt her fingernails cutting into the skin. This caused a fresh line of blood flow. She thought she could hear someone gasp in horror at this. Was it her mother? She hardly paid attention as she continued to let out loud, pained and terrified cries.

‘Snap’s’ voice only got continuously louder. Words and statements were repeated. Each time, it felt like they were getting continuously louder and louder, and soon it felt like a loud bell was being rung right next to her. She tried to keep herself under control, but things were just spinning faster and faster, becoming nothing more than a swirling mess. No matter what she did, it seemed like there was no way to get out of this madness.

“Penny! Snap out of it!” Her mother shouted.

The woman’s voice seemed to pierce through the cloud that had Penny in its unrelenting grasp. Penny let out a loud gasp of shock as her body jolted forward. She looked left and right as she tried to see where she was. It became rapidly clear to her that she had never left and the vision of ‘Snap’ was gone.

But despite that, she could still feel the weight of her emotions pulling her down. She turned her head down to stare at the blanket, at nothing in particular, as those words still haunted her mind. She bit her lip firmly and she could feel tears forming in her eyes. She wasn’t able to keep control of her own dignity and she could feel herself starting to cry softly.

Her mother whispered to her. “Oh Penita… What could have happened to you…?” The woman didn’t seem to be expecting an answer. Just seconds later, she was leaning in forward to wrap her arms around her gently. Penny could soon feel her mother’s body warmth embracing her. “Shh… You’re no longer...where you were before. You’re in a hospital now and you will recover.” Her mother pushed her head against her more firmly, nuzzling her. “And I promise that I will not allow you to get hurt again.”

Penny just continued to whimper and cry. She didn’t do anything to fight against her mother’s hug, despite not being able to feel comforted by it. Somehow, the woman’s body warmth was not able to fight off the cold iciness that was spreading throughout Penny’s blood vessels. Her head was spinning with thoughts crowded around inside of it. This was made even worse by the fact that now her mother had witnessed one of these attacks. What if it happened again…?

But that was not the only thing that she had to be worried about. The sudden mental attack was enough to bring forth to her the fears surrounding Rudy and just what he might say, or had already told people. She had been out cold and could not have stopped him. She feared what consequences this was going to bring about.

Unable to shake this off, Penny pulled herself back and she looked up at her mother. She didn’t know how she was going to bring this up without sounding weird or suspicious. But she did need to say something, at least. If she just did nothing…

“M-M-Mama… I-I… I need to know…” Penny gently gripped her mother’s sleeves, keeping her eyes level with hers. “What did R-R-Rudy tell you..?”

Her mother stared at her with rapidly blinking eyes. She then placed her hands against Penny’s and carefully pushed them back. “You needn’t worry about that right now, Penita. He’ll recover just fine.”

Penny lowered her gaze slightly. “I know that. But…” She gave her mother an upwards stare. “What did he tell you about….us…? What happened…?”

“He and Terry did not give me a lot of information. I thought I told you that.”

“At least with Terry, you did.”

“Well Rudy does need his rest. I’m sure he’ll have more strength to tell me more once he’s more able-bodied and able-minded.”

Penny tried to hide her flinch at this. However, she was not able to fully hide her facial expressions. She could see her mother’s reaction immediately to this. Her body became rigid momentarily as she heard her mother speak up.

“What is it? What’s wrong? I thought you…” Her mother started to say.

Penny gave a weak chuckle, hoping to settle her mother down. “I-It’s okay...really! I’m just...t-t-tired, that’s all.”

Her mother started her with a firm expression, as though she was not entirely convinced by her words. But her mother did seem to know better than to try to force her to speak any further. Releasing a small sigh, she pulled her head back and gave a slow nod of her head. “Okay then. That sounds reasonable. I’m sure you’re still so weak after...what happened.”

Penny could only just nod her head.

“Well, I do need to get back to work. But I do hope that you make a swift recovery.” Her mother leaned in to give her a kiss on the forehead. “Have a good rest of your day.” After a pause and stroking her daughter’s hair for a moment, the woman said, “I love you.”

Penny did her best to smile. “Love you, too…”

Penny watched as her mother reluctantly turned to walk away. It hadn’t taken long before Penny was now in this room alone once again. She already could feel the air of regret coming down on her and she silently wished that her mother could return. But at the same time, she feared what her mother might find if she stayed for too long. Penny had never felt so torn between a rock and a hard place before when it came to her own mother.

But whatever the case might be, whatever happens, she knew that it was not going to be easy. Her mother was right. She did need more rest. She was not going to recover too well if she let herself get too caught up in all of this.

As she laid down, however, out of the corner of her eyes in the nearby reflection, she thought for sure she had caught a glimpse of blue.


	31. Confrontment

Rudy didn’t want to believe what he was hearing. He wanted to think that something about it had to be wrong, that he was just mishearing it. He had heard this before and he accepted it as reality. But for some reason, hearing it from someone here, from the Real World, it just caused everything to crash down around him. It caused him to want to cling onto false hope, wanting to delude himself that things weren’t as bad as they seemed.

He didn’t want to believe that his parents were dead, despite knowing for a while that they were. Large tears dropped down from his face as he sniffled loudly, shaking his head from side to side in denial. He opened his eyes up to stare at Mrs. Sanchez, who had come over to visit him. She could see the look in her eyes, the emotions and thoughts that she was spilling out to him even without her having to say a word. This caused Rudy to shut his eyes tightly and start to cry harder.

“N-No… I-I-It’s just some horrible d-d-dream….” Rudy sniffled loudly. “M-My parents can’t be…”

“I’m sorry. I know this is hard for you to hear. But your parents passed away in a blaze that consumed your old home.” Mrs. Sanchez told him. She was trying to sound as gentle as she could. But she was having very little success in calming the boy down. “There is nothing that you can do to change that. I’m so very sorry..”

Rudy continued to cry lowly, a few coughs escaping through his mouth, his nose getting stuffy. He realized that he was not acting in the best of ways by doing this. He needed to get a grip on himself and try to face this head-on. His parents…. They wouldn’t want him to act like this the whole time, would they? He didn’t think so.

Rudy wiped away at his tears quickly, trying to make them stop flowing. He couldn’t stop tasting their saltiness in his mouth and he gave a few shudders at this. He seemed to calm down a little more quickly when he could feel the woman’s hand carefully squeezing his shoulder. He stared at her hand and then back up at her. He forced himself to smile at her, trying to hide whatever lingering uncertainties remained.

Mrs. Sanchez’s smile did look genuine, but also...cracked in a way. There were more emotions mixed in there, including some bitterness, some sense of uncertainty herself. There was a sense of loss that she appeared to be conveying and it was enough to make Rudy’s own mind sting with emotion.

Giving a small sniffle, the woman said, “Y-Your parents were…. They were some good people. It’s...a shame what happened to them.” Mrs. Sanchez had to pause for a moment while she wiped away her own tears. The sight of the woman crying like this revived Rudy’s own tear flow. He could only nod his head in agreement as Mrs. Sanchez continued, “I can’t b-b-believe that something….something l-like that could happen to them…”

Rudy shut his eyes tightly and clenched his teeth. He could feel his body trembling hard. He could feel his mind struggling to conjure up images of his parents, trying to recall what they looked like. But all his mind could do was show him a fire burning inside, and he could hear screams being distorted along the flames.

He never got to see them again after all these years… It was bad enough to lose them. But thanks to….the Chalk Queen… he was robbed of any chance of reuniting with his parents. The last time that he had seen them, he was only a child. He could only imagine the pain that they had gone through. And there was nothing that he could do to comfort them now. His parents died thinking that he was dead.

And it was all Penny’s fault…

“Rudy...dear...what’s wrong..?”

Rudy turned to face Mrs. Sanchez. Right then and there, he could feel the temptation crawling inside of him to just tell the woman what her so-called daughter had done. The anger raged on inside of his head, making him feel increasingly sick. He didn’t know how long he would be able to stay quiet, his lips quivering in anticipation of spilling out every damn thing that had happened to him.

But something still held him back. And it didn’t have to do with Penny. He was more so worried regarding what Mrs. Sanchez would say. Would she believe him? Would she accuse him of being a liar? Would she turn against him? Rudy could feel a tinge of cold crawling along his skin as he realized how much this could backfire against him.

He soon realized that he couldn’t just tell the woman. He had held back before and the same thing was going to happen this time. He just could not bring himself to tell her, out of fear of creating a new enemy. While he doubted that Mrs. Sanchez would ever be as cruel to him as Penny had been, he just...didn’t want to add to the already troubling situation.

Rudy turned his head away and gave a low mumble, “It’s...nothing. No need to worry…”

Mrs. Sanchez looked at him sadly. It looked like she wanted to ask him more questions, but she seemed to realize when it was time to back away. She let out a forced sigh as she stroked his cheek gently. “All right then… No need to get yourself worked up.”

Rudy closed his eyes lightly. He felt a bit of shame starting to replace his previous anger. Had he been acting a bit out of line? Had he unintentionally frightened Mrs. Sanchez? He hated the idea of doing such a thing. But all he could do was just hang his head in silence as Mrs. Sanchez tried to silently console him.

Then after a few more moments of her gently stroking his hair, she said, “Would you like something to drink?”

Rudy nodded his head. “S-Sure. Thanks.”

Mrs. Sanchez smiled at him. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. Wait right here.”

The young man watched as the woman walked out of the room. He couldn’t help but chuckle at what she had told him to do. Wait right here.. What else was he going to do?

sss

Where was it? Where could it have possibly gone? Why wasn’t it here with her? Did someone else take it?

Did Rudy have something…?

Penny could feel her head pounding with these questions and thoughts, reigning down on her and giving her no chance to recuperate. She was not able to hold still or control herself too well. Her face was alit with emotions, keeping her locked in them and forcing her to face the reality around her.

Penny could not remember if she had a piece of magic chalk with her or not. She could not recall any details of it being stolen or falling out or just having it in this world in general. The more that she struggled to figure this out, the more that her head felt squeezed with the pressure of coils wrapping around her skull. She shut her eyes tightly as she tried to deal with the pressure. She kept asking herself what the hell she was going to do now.

She shook her head and tried to empty her skull of thoughts, trying to do whatever she could to relax. She thought she could hear a beeping sound coinciding with her heart racing. It felt heavy on her and she lowered her head, putting her hands to her face. She shook her head from side to side, unable to stop her burning mind from struggling for some kind of answer.

Why was this so fucking hard to do? Why couldn’t she be completely certain that the magic chalk wasn’t in the wrong hands? Why was she feeling skeptical of Rudy being able to keep the magic chalk a secret? She wasn’t able to come up with an answer no matter how hard she tried. She was left feeling rather sickened on the inside.

She had no idea just why she hadn’t thought of this before. She couldn’t understand why she had failed to be urgent enough about this situation. Well sure she was still a little out of it and not fully herself. But she didn’t take that as an excuse. There was no excuse for this… She should have done something sooner. And because of her inability to take action when she should have, someone might be her with the magic chalk.

And there were certain people that she hoped, above all, didn’t get the magic chalk.

Penny forced her eyes open, a motion that almost seemed too painful to be worth it. She noticed how her vision was blurry and she couldn’t make out much of what was around her. Not that it mattered. She was alone, no one to distract herself with to escape these thoughts. She gritted her teeth as she realized this and she looked down at her hands. She noticed how they shook and trembled, her emotions dominating her mind and body, wracking through it as though trying to escape into their own entities.

Penny, having no one to turn to in that moment for comfort, wrapped her arms around herself, giving a self-hug. It was lacking of warmth and genuinity. It didn’t distract her from this reality. But it did at least help her stop her pathetic panicking and worrying, to some degree anyway.

And why should she be so worried about this? She knew what she could do in order to avoid this needless worrying over what might have happened. She just needed to see if she can get permission to see Rudy. Then she could get the information out of him. She knew that he would listen to her. He was…

Her thoughts were interrupted when there was a sudden loud beep that rang throughout the hallway, her hospital room door opened up enough to hear all of that. She turned her head left and right as she tried to see what was going on. Her heart pounded heavily in her chest as her body struggled to settle down from that sort of harsh wake-up call.

This sound was quickly taken over by something else. The shouts and cries of doctors echoing as they were rushing somewhere. Penny could hear the sound of their footfalls rather clearly and she knew they were coming this way. She tried to push herself up to take a look. She could soon see something zipping by. Doctors pushing someone down the hallway and…

Wait a minute… This patient they were pushing looked...familiar...

Was that…. Rudy…?

Penny felt herself inhale sharply at this realization, her mind reeling. Unrelenting questions were already echoing confusingly in her head.

sss

The next several hours were rather hectic. Everything felt like it was moving too fast and yet things also felt slow. It was a strange combination that no one could understand. It was just a mere swirling vortex that refused to let up, refused to let go. And everyone was feeling the effects of it, even those not related to what was going on.

The doctors had been scrambling to figure out what to do with Rudy Tabootie. They had dragged him into the emergency room when he had started to have a weird reaction to...something. None of the doctors knew what it could be. They did try to check the cameras, but none of them appeared to yield anything helpful. It was like they had been shut off. This realization sent horror to everyone in the hospital who had heard the news and caused the staff to try to get to the bottom of what had happened.

Rudy had to be given a number of tests and attached to several equipment to figure out what was going on with him. Something was causing him to spaz out and he didn’t seem aware of his surroundings or very responsive. His breathing was rather labored and it sounded like he was struggling to draw in breath after breath. The doctors worked as fast as they could and it seemed to take forever before they found anything that worked.

But though Rudy was successfully treated, that did not do much to ease the tension that spread throughout the hospital. Patients and visitors and staff alike were shaken up by this event. There was no doubt in their mind that someone had to have done this deliberately. There was no way that there was some kind of mix up. Almost immediately after the fact, the staff started to question each other as well as examine the equipment in Rudy’s room to figure out what had happened.

But there was little belief that they would figure it out quickly enough. There were already patients wanting to leave, worried that the same thing would happen to them. Some were successful while others had to remain where they were. The doctors promised that they would do what they could to protect them. But there wasn’t much belief in that.

There was no doubt that this was going to reach the local news. Someone was going to report on this. Someone was going to try to come up with a conspiracy theory to explain what happened. It was going to skew the true results of what happened and someone innocent might get locked up.

And yet it was a given that this was not going to stop the tabloids and reporters from sensationalizing what should be a horrific situation. Those involved were horrified by the thought. But they hardly said much about it as they just wanted answers to what went on. They wanted to know why Rudy Tabootie had suddenly gotten so sick while in this hospital. And they also wanted to know what measures were being taken to prevent it and just how easy it was for someone else to suffer the same fate.

Mrs. Sanchez had been trying to console both Rudy and Penny and did her best to try to help them see that it was just a freak thing that won’t happen again. She had been persistent and patient with them. But it wasn’t enough to calm them down. Penny kept asking questions regarding Rudy. And Rudy himself...he was locked in terror at being the victim of an attempted murder.

This had caused him to believe that his parents were murdered as well. He had kept asking what the police found and how would have wanted to kill his parents. Mrs. Sanchez was not able to shake this thought from his mind.

And it wasn’t just Rudy feeling this. Penny had started to get her own suspicions as well. She had admitted that it did seem strange that Rudy would be harmed shortly after his parents died. She did at least acknowledge that there was a chance that it was pure coincidence and that his parents were really the victims of a freak accident. But the thought still remained in her mind, in her pocket of possibilities. She silently hoped that some kind of resolution would come.

And in fact in this very moment, Penny was leaning back in her bed, contemplating just what could have happened. Her mind was abuzz with many thoughts. She had just barely managed to recover enough to try to think clearly. But her head still rumbled with horrific thoughts as she thought of what had happened.

She couldn’t blame Skrawl for this, nor herself. They hadn’t done anything to Rudy that would have produced the results that the doctors had found, what she had heard and seen for herself. There had to be someone else who did something. But who else could have….

Penny felt her body go rigid with burning emotions, anger and horror intermixing like some kind of horrible pot concoction. There was someone who would have benefited from getting rid of Rudy. Specifically, someone who could reap the benefits of that from the Real World. And it happened to be someone that she had seen that not long ago.

Terry Bouffant herself.

Penny pressed her teeth against her lip firmly, nearly drawing warm, salty blood. That vile woman had to have been responsible, or at least had some kind of hand in on this. She had motivation to get at Rudy. To both keep him from stopping her and to get back at Penny for her interference in the past. It was a win/win situation for her, and equaled to a very terrifying experience for others. Terry had always been about exploiting others. Surely she had a hand in what happened here.

Penny narrowed her eyes in determination. She was not going to allow Terry to get away with this.

sss

Terry raised an eyebrow as she stared at Penny. Her lip curled up slightly and she released a small hiss, “You are joking, right?”

Penny just glared right back at her. She was not surprised at all by this response. “Do I look like I’m joking?” She raised her hand up and motioned it towards Terry. “I know you must have had a hand in what happened to Rudy.”

“And why the fuck do you care?”

Penny could feel her body going rigid at this question. She felt the sharp ends of those words piercing into her chest, leaving her to stare at the woman with a still posture. She struggled to think of how she could respond to that. But what made it the hardest was probably the fact that, in the end, Terry was...right. Considering what she did to Rudy…

Penny shook her head, pushing those thoughts out of her mind. “You’re not distracting me that easily.” Penny growled through clenched teeth. “Just tell me what you fucking did to him, or…”

Terry released a few chuckles at Penny’s statement. It seemed rather clear that the woman was not taking her threat very seriously. This realization was enough to make Penny’s blood start to boil. But did she really have much that she could back her threat with? She might not be in the hospital anymore. She might have been discharged along with Rudy a while ago. It may have been sometime since then. But that did not give her much leeway in her options.

But that didn’t mean that she couldn’t try something herself. That didn’t mean that she couldn’t try to deliver to the woman a threat that she was not going to forget. She wanted her to be sure that her actions were not going to go unnoticed. She could try to hide them all that she wanted to. But in the end, she was as good as…. Penny interrupted her own thought sequences as she resumed talking to Terry.

“If you don’t tell me what you did, then I will tell everyone that you….” Penny was almost immediately stopped with Terry raising her hand up.

Like venom flowing out of the fang tips of a snake, Terry growled at her, “You’ve already said enough. You told so much about me that I ended up getting locked in this hellhole for years. And I only got to experience a short time out of it.” Terry raised her head up, giving Penny a downwards glare. She bared her teeth at her. “There is nothing more that you can take away from me, you self-entitled little brat.”

“Wh-What the… Y-Y-You’re the one who was self-entitled! Trying to expose ChalkZone for your own glory!” Penny snarled at the woman. How dare she try to turn this around on her… How dare she try to indicate that she was the one at fault… “You were willing to put many lives in danger because of your selfish actions!”

Terry gave a few dark chuckles. “Oh you are something, aren’t you? Considering what you did in ChalkZone, how can you see yourself fit to criticize me? You aren’t that much different. You control that world with an iron fist and the zoners are terrified of you.” She tilted her head to one side. Her facial expression grew increasingly twisted and contorted. “And you had hurt Rudy Tabootie far more than I ever would have. Heheheh...who is the real monster now..?”

Penny could feel herself taking a step back. She flinched in pain, a reminder that she had not fully healed from what happened to her. Even talking can at times make her feel achy. But her emotions and adrenaline were conquering her mind right now, and this gave her the edge that she needed to get what she wanted, to do what she felt was needed.

And that was why she had slapped Terry across the face, just like she had with Vinnie Raton earlier. Terry let out a small yelp of pain and snarled at her. Penny just glared back at her, wanting her to know that she had brought this upon herself.

She did not expect Terry to grab onto her neck.

Penny stiffened up at the feel of the woman’s hand tightening around her neck. The palms and fingers squeezed against her still healing wound roughly. Shockwaves of pain surged up and down her neck, unrelenting and unforgiving. Penny’s tears poured from her eyes as she released a few small cries of pain. She soon started to struggle, grabbing onto Terry’s hand and arm and trying to push it away from her.

Terry managed to hold on as she started to shout at Penny. “You were the one who locked him up for years! You were the one who broke his leg and didn’t let it heal right! You were the one who was abusing him emotionally and physically!” Her grip on Penny’s neck tightened even more, causing Penny to gag sharply and painfully. “And you were the one who allowed his injuries to fester long enough for them to become a serious problem!”

Penny eventually stopped fighting back. The woman had her pinned down and she didn’t seem to care that she was on camera. Terry had little else left to lose. So she was getting the full unhinged Terry. Penny realized that it was a mistake to come here. With one eye open, she watched the woman carefully to see what else she was going to do.

“You are very damn lucky that they were able to treat it before it became life threatening..” Terry paused for a moment. She then continued to speak through a growly, deepened, and heavy voice, “But he still requires treatment, doesn’t he…?”

The younger female human could not deny this bit. She did recall that Rudy was going to need to be on antibiotics for a while. And that was just part of the treatment. She herself had gotten off easy compared to Rudy.

And a lot of it had to do with the injuries that were not properly treated in all of this time.

Terry seemed to realize what thoughts were prevalent in Penny’s mind. She started to smile at her. Bitter, humorless, and masking her anger, the smile stretched along the red-haired woman’s face. “And so here we are, reaching a point where you can do one of two things. You can accept what you did…” Her hand slipped away from Penny’s neck. “Or you can pretend that it’s someone else’s fault. Though I have a feeling what you will choose. You seem content on acting like another person is at fault for your actions.”

Penny wanted to say something, anything, to rebuke against the woman’s harsh words. She tried to think of a way to prove her wrong or just something to make her shut up. But there was nothing that could come to her mind right now. There was nothing that she could do or say that would make right what she did. She knew this to be true. No matter how much she wanted to run from it, there was just no way that she could….

Penny released a frustrated growl, her body shaking. She could feel her head burning and aching as no solution was coming to her head. She was unable to give a response and instead she just continued to keep her teeth bared and eyes narrowed to show her displeasure. But all this was doing was making Terry rapidly realize that she was winning this argument. Penny realized that there was nothing that she could to stop it, either.

And Terry was willing to take full advantage of it. Of course she would, considering how foul that she was… Even if she hadn’t been spotted in ChalkZone yet, even if there was a chance that she lost the magic chalk, the evil woman would always find some way to brag to her. Any sort of victory in her favor was well worth mocking to her about, it would seem.

Terry started to speak again, her voice stopping the silence that was forming around them. “I do get the feeling that security will come in soon to get me away from you. They are strict on their policies, you know. But before they do arrive, let me give you a piece of life lesson advice.” The woman pulled back. “Are you ready?”

There was no reason for Penny to respond.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Now listen carefully, you self-righteous brat…” Terry exhaled deeply as she tapped her fingers together. “It is easy to start blaming others for things that happened. But if you’re going to do that, you’re best off making sure that your...home is in order first…”

Penny blinked at Terry when she said this. She tried to ask her what she was talking about. But her efforts came in too late. A group of staff members were already rushing in to take care of Terry. Penny had lost her chance to get more clarity. She had no choice but to leave, especially since the staff seemed to want her out as well.

But those words still echoed in her head, refusing to leave her alone. She thought about them long and hard as she tried to think of what they could possibly mean. What was Terry trying to get at? What was her goal with what she had told her? There had to be a reason, right?

Well if there was, Terry had done a heck of a job at making it obscure and difficult to decipher. Was that her plan? Penny shook her head and tried not to waste time on thinking about that. She instead refocused her attention on what Terry said and tried to read between the lines. There was something about that phrase that should hit home for her, no pun intended. There was something that it was trying to tell her. ‘Make sure that her home is in order’.... What did that mean? Was it referring to a real home or something else? Was it a metaphor that she had to crack the code to? What was…

Then a thought crossed her mind. It was enough to make her stop walking and she stared out ahead. She couldn’t bring herself to continue to traverse through the hallway. The thought was so shocking and yet….did she not see signs of it before? She swallowed bitterly, not wanting to believe it. But there was only one way to find out if it was true or not.

And she would begin with a simple...visit.


	32. Gut Wrenching Betrayal

Skrawl couldn’t help but smile as he marked down the next day on the calendar. It had been about two weeks since he had last seen Penny anywhere in ChalkZone. The realization made his chest swell up with excitement. Her absence had led him to be able to run ChalkZone on his own, and he felt he was doing a good job of it. Better than she ever could, anyway.

He had managed to gain at least some of the zoners’ respect using the very thing that Penny used on Craniac. Well sure, he was still sort of relying on her in a way. But Penny, the Chalk Queen, was absent in all of this. The zoners couldn’t really turn their fear towards her when it was Skrawl himself doing these things. They were quick to fall in line. Skrawl enjoyed it all. Sure it meant that he was now the target of rebellion more so than the Chalk Queen. But that didn’t bother him too much. He was prepared. And at least the zoners knew who was boss now.

He could hear the sound of sparking and scraping off to the side. He barely turned his head and he could easily see the badly beaten, hardly repaired robot that was Craniac. He smiled at the sight of him, wondering how he was even still able to keep moving around like that.

The electric machine had done quite a number on Craniac. Due to him being a robot, much of his injuries were not yet healed, as he needed to be repaired. And since there were not many parts that he could use here affectively, he was stuck with look like a pile of trash moving around on one wheel. It was rather amusing. Even some of his own denizens had trouble recognizing that it was actually him.

“Did you see any sign of the Chalk Queen?”

Skrawl flinched slightly. This was one thing that he didn’t like about Craniac’s new look. His voice module had been badly damaged and caused some high pitched sounds to shoot out at random. This hurt his ears and made it difficult to listen to the robotic zoner. It made Skrawl regret pushing him back through the machine. Perhaps there was a better way to punish Craniac for his effort to take control where he should not be. Oh well, nothing that he could do about that now.

Skrawl shook his head. “Nope, I haven’t seen her at all in a couple of weeks.”

“Well that is concerning…” Craniac started to say. “If she…”

Skrawl cut him off, partially so that he did not have to listen to more of that sharp ringing sound in his ears. “Who cares how long she’s been gone? She’s given me more than enough time to take over her role.” He raised his hand up in gesture. “There’s no way that she could just waltz in here and yank everything that I’ve worked for out of my claws.”

“You really think so?” Craniac said softly.

Skrawl made himself look as big as possible, puffing himself up. This did not seem to impress Craniac, but no matter. Even he couldn’t deny the success of what was going on around him. Even he couldn’t sit there and pretend that he hadn’t accomplished something. “I don’t just think, Craniac. I know so! She could come in here and fight me for control all she wants to, but I am going to make sure that she stays at my feet where she belongs…”

Craniac raised up his trembling, sliced up arm. “Then p-perhaps you should tell her that.”

“What are…” Skrawl felt himself go completely rigid when he could hear an all too familiar voice behind him.

“Do you really think you can do that, King Skrawl…? My, you certainly have grown a spine since I last saw you.”

Skrawl immediately swerved his body around to come face-to-face with the Chalk Queen herself. The sight of her caused his previous emotions and thoughts to be sucked away and he found it hard to say anything. His throat was dry and his breathing became stiff. He tried to say something, but nothing would best convey how he felt right now. All he could do was stand in silence.

The Chalk Queen stared at him long and hard, a small smile on her face. It didn’t look like she was about to attack, but there was something about how she was looking at him that kept him frozen. Slowly, she started to walk towards him, her body giving a slight sway, as though she was intentionally trying to creep him out. If that was her goal, then it was working quite well.

But despite that, Skrawl still struggled to keep himself looking serious, not wanting Penny to get the idea that she was scaring him into submission. He shook his head quickly and took a somewhat defensive stance. He towered over her, trying to assert his dominance via how tall that he was. Craniac might be so much of a wimp that he was backing off quickly. But Skrawl himself was not going to let her rise above him that easily. It was he who ran the show now and Penny was going to respect that.

Or else, he would…

“I see you did a good job with maintaining things here, King Skrawl.” Penny said, cutting his thoughts off before he had a chance to finish them. Penny slowly looked around left and right and gave a small nod of approval. “Couldn’t have done better myself.”

Skrawl stammered at this. He could feel his body relaxing a little bit as he struggled to say something. Eventually, he did the only thing that he could do. “Th-Th-Thank you, Chalk Queen…” The thought of doing that was enough to make him shudder and choke, but he did manage to push it back from his mind. “I...see you’re finally back…”

The Chalk Queen glared softly at him. “I had some….things to do.” There was a noticeable hesitation in her voice. Skrawl already knew what this alluded to. But he knew better than to bring it up. He could hear her clear his throat and he stifled himself as she said, “I am going to need you to keep running things for me for a bit longer.”

Skrawl tried not to growl at this. So it would seem that his thoughts were right. She was going to try to take his control away just like she had before. But he said nothing in that moment. He did his best to play along and say, “What do you need to do?”

Penny just stared off in one direction, as though lost in her thoughts.

Skrawl growled lowly, “There’s a reason that you came here. If you have outside business to take care of….”

“You were spying on me for days, weren’t you?”

Skrawl immediately shut his mouth at this comment. He could hear Craniac’s distorted whimpering in the background and he thought he could hear him attempting to scramble to get away. Skrawl paid little attention to him as his eyes remained focused on the girl in front of him. He scrambled to think of something to say, but nothing seemed befitting of this situation.

Penny smiled at him softly. “It’s fine, you are not in trouble. I am just wondering something…” Penny’s eyes then furrowed further, going from soft to hard in a matter of seconds. Skrawl was almost immediately taken aback by this motion and he had to scramble to get himself back from her. “Did you happen to….record any of it…? I mean, do you have any backups anywhere that I could watch?”

Skrawl wasn’t sure what to say to this. The Chalk Queen wanted a recording of him and Craniac spying on her? For what reason? The woman had some kind of plan in all of this. There was some kind of motive that she was keeping hidden underneath her belt. But what could that be?

Swallowing hard, Skrawl forced himself to nod his head and say, “I….y-y-yes…. C-Craniac has some records…” He paused for a moment, slowly turning his head to one side and watching the Chalk Queen carefully. “Wh-Why do you ask?”

The Chalk Queen stared at him intently, her eyes furrowing deeply. “And you were watching me the whole time? You have a good number of footage?”

“Well some were deleted for obvious….” Skrawl stopped himself before he carried on too far. “Where are you getting at?”

“Do you have any footage of my mother?”

Skrawl blinked his eyes rapidly at this. He could feel his head aching slightly as he tried to reason with himself why Penny asked for this particular information. There was a reason for it. There was intent behind it. But he could not fathom, for the life of him, why this particular question was…

He could see Penny was getting a little antsy, impatient. He tried his best not to react to her furrowing expression. Although he had no idea what she wanted, and neither did Craniac judging from the look he had given him when he stared at him moments earlier, he still relented. He still gave Penny more or less what she wanted.

“Yes, we have some stuff and…” Skrawl couldn’t hide his curiosity for much longer. “Just why do you want this?”

But Penny was not interested in giving him more details. Instead, she was just walking up towards him, her motions a little stiff, her eyes filled with determination. Then she gave him a low, rumbling command that he could not easily ignore. “Show me…”

sss

Penny furrowed her eyes as she watched the images flipping in front of her, zooming by in sequence, showing her exactly what was going on. She did not pay attention to anything else around her. She had little care about the small, nervous sounds that Craniac was making, who was clearly scarred from her treatment of him earlier, nor did she care about Skrawl’s uncertain glares. All that mattered to her right now was just what was happening in front of her now. The video that was playing...and she was moving her eyes around to decipher it.

She would never admit it outright, but Skrawl was correct in his earlier assumption. There had been a reason why she requested this information. He just didn’t really need to know much about it. This was something she herself had to deal with. This was nothing too new in their, uh, ‘relationship’, but this was something that even she couldn’t have seen coming after all of this time.

Her head was echoing with the memories of what Terry Bouffant had told her. With these words in her head, she looked through the footage that Skrawl and Craniac had kept related to her. In the past, she had been so furious with what they had done. But now, with this new revelation, she could almost kiss them. This was exactly what she needed in order to see if there was any basis in the thought she just had. A part of her was still wishing that it was just an overreaction. But if she really did find something, then she might just crack the case on something that was bugging her lately.

And that related to the untimely demise of Rudy’s parents.

It had seemed a bit..strange that it happened. And unfortunate, which was a more appropriate word in this case. Either way, there was something about this event that kept sticking out to her. And that was related to what her mother had stated. She had given a hint earlier that hit was a deliberate act, which was not something hinted at by the media. She had dismissed it at first, just a slip of the tongue. But hearing Terry’s voice still echoing in her mind, urging her to keep moving forward with this... There was little doubt in Penny’s mind now that her mother might have been onto something. Just..not in the way that she would have preferred.

Penny was impressed with this screen display. There was an advantage to watching a recording of her own sights rather than with her own eyes. Everything was sharp, and this would allow her to more easily focus on certain details. And there was on in particular that she was trying to look for. She kept looking for it, her eyes moving slowly left and right as the images before her played.

Then suddenly…

“Stop!” Penny raised her hand up, signalling to Craniac to pause the screen. Lowering her hand, Penny moved in closer to take a look.

Leaning forward, Penny looked carefully at the now still image in front of her. It was a frozen image of her mother’s face, back when her mom first initially brought that up. Penny was familiar with her mother and she felt confident in that she could pick up subtle cues. So she started to study her mother’s facial expressions to read any hidden information.

It didn’t take her long to start getting something of an idea of what was going on in her mother’s head and….she wasn’t liking it.

“Your highness..?”

Penny didn’t respond to that question. She didn’t know who had asked it, but she didn’t care. She just kept her eyes right on the screen that showed her mother talking. She didn’t pay attention to what she was saying specifically. Instead, it was the facial expressions that were drawing her in. She watched all the motions that her mother was giving, and she noticed a few things.

Like...her mother was making some nervous twitches as she spoke. Her facial expressions did not always match the words. The way that she seemed to hurry things along, and how she had told her to leave… All of these did not add up to anything good. And now that she had proof in front of her eyes, she could not deny it any longer.

Her mother knew something about the incident. She was hiding something from her.

The realization was enough to make her grind her teeth firmly and she hissed softly. She could feel her body trembling sharply and she was not able to do anything to stop it. She could feel her teeth nearly crack under the pressure of her grinding against them. Many thoughts were surging through her head and not one of them was able to keep her calm about this situation. She took in a few heavy breathings before she swerved her head to glare at Skrawl and Craniac.

But before she even opened her mouth to scold the two startled zoners, she stopped herself. Would there be any point in doing that at all? Would she be able to correct this situation by taking it out on these two idiots? She knew what the answer was immediately and she released a frustrated snort.

“Wh-What are you going to do..?” Craniac finally spoke up. His voice seemed to spark a little bit, and there was a noticeable shake, as though he feared that he had offended her by asking such a question.

But Penny didn’t bother even giving him a stare when she said, “That isn’t any of your business…” She then turned her attention to Skrawl. He could see the zoner giving a quick stiffen as he looked at her with uncertainty. “Can you run ChalkZone for a little while longer?”

Skrawl looked left and right, then stammered to her, “Y-Y-Yes I can, but...wh-why are…”

Penny cut him off, “Because I need to pay a visit to a certain someone…”

And with that, she turned her eyes back to the screen, narrowing them deeply. She hoped that her mother was prepared for a little visit from her. And this time, she had better hope that she doesn’t try to wriggle her way out of their chat. Penny was not going to just walk away from this without answers. Her mother was going to provide them for her, regardless if she wanted to or not.

A part of Penny still hoped that this didn’t mean what she thought. And yet, given what she experienced, she knew that many things were possible, including the seemingly impossible. As a child, she never thought she would have turned against Rudy and treat him like a prisoner. Yet that still happened. With that in mind, it was possible that her mother had… Penny swallowed bitterly. She would try to save the accusations for when she actually spoke to her.

She had no idea what to expect. But she was going to try to prepare for the worse.

sss

It might seem a little abrupt of her to already be at her mother’s place. Not much time had passed between now and when she had been talking to Skrawl and Craniac regarding that footage that they had of her. But this was something that she felt needed to be done as soon as possible and she wanted to take no risks about it. She let her tongue move over her lips slowly as she approached the door, preparing herself for the confrontation that she never thought that she’d have to make.

Penny hesitated, still feeling unsure about the whole thing. She felt her teeth pressing into her lip and she watched the door in front of her. It almost looked like the door itself was starting to move. It looked warped and twisted, as though taunting her for her hesitation in taking action. Seeing this was causing Penny to reel from frustration. She released a low growl and silently scolded herself for delaying what needed to be done.

Without further delaying, she reached forward and she got herself to knock on the door. Each bang sounded more and more echoey, as though reminding her of the type of conflict she was about to endure. This was not like confronting Skrawl or even Rudy. Those two, she had spoken with far more often than her own mother. And she had never confronted her mother in the past over something so...dark. She did not know how she would react.

But she was about to find out. She could see the door knob moving and wobbling. She took a few steps back. She could see the door opening up almost instantly. There was a small squeaking sound and she could see that a tall shadow already filled the doorway. This caused Penny to flinch. Then the shadow immediately gave way to…

“Penita..?” Her mother asked. Her voice was softened and filled with genuine shock. The woman stared at her for several long moments, her mouth open as though she could not believe her eyes. “I….I didn’t expect you to be here. What brings you to visit me at this time?”

Penny would normally try to look friendly. But given the circumstance, that didn’t seem too important at this point. She kept a firm expression and her voice was just as rigid as her facial expression. “Mother, we need to talk.”

Her mother watched her with a confused expression, her hand going to her chest. She looked unsettled by the way that her own daughter was looking at her. She couldn’t even seem to bring herself to speak up. She just kept stuttering and looking around as though trying to figure out an appropriate response to this. Eventually she just had to force her body to loosen up and she gave a small nod. Penny did not waste time and she immediately followed her inside.

The two women headed into the living room. Penny had to force herself to keep going. For some reason, coming in here felt like a chore, like the air had grown thick since she was gone. Everything in her field of vision swirled and looked blurry and darkened. This effect only got worse the further into the house she had went.

This was the first time that Penny felt legitimately not fully welcome here. She didn’t know why entirely, given that her mom had not yet done anything to confirm her suspicions and was even willing to still talk despite her initial rough attitude.

But then again, her mother might be somewhat aware and was going to try to put on her best act. Though if that were the case, Penny would see right through it quickly. At least, have a better idea of what to look for. After all, she did watch that video earlier and she knew what her mother was doing when she was being… Penny did not allow her thoughts to finish as her mother was already indicating for her to sit down, which Penny did.

She and her mom stared at one another as they sat on the same couch, on opposite ends. She could see her mother’s prying eyes wanting to know what was going on and what the heck this was all about. She could feel her mother’s questions surging through her head and she knew that this could not be delayed for any longer.

“Let me just cut right to the chase, mother.” Penny said firmly. She did nothing to hide her underlying emotions regarding this ordeal. “This is about what you said you had seen regarding that fire…”

Her mother raised her hand up. “I already told you, I…”

“No, you’re not walking away from this. You don’t get to. Not this time.” Penny pointed a finger at the woman, baring her teeth. She tensed her body up as a way of showing her dominance in this conversation. Almost immediately, her mother responded through slight cringing and a worried expression.

Good, Penny thought. Her mother was already getting the hint of this. Now she could continue on without worry that her mother try to get away.

Penny continued, “I want you to answer me, look at me in the eyes and answer me honestly…” She leaned in forward as she pointed her fingers at her eyes for a few seconds to emphasize what she was saying. Then she stared into her mother’s eyes and hissed, “...how did you know that the fire was not an accident?”

Her mother hesitated for a few moments, stammering and turning her head left and right. It looked like she was having some trouble giving an answer. It took a while before any sort of response flowed out of her mouth. “I-I… I just heard it on the news, I said…”

“But the report I saw did not indicate any such thing.” Penny cocked her head to one side. “What report were you viewing?”

“Channel 3’s….”

“....same as mine…”

There was some silence that followed after that. The two women could not speak to each other in that time frame. Their mouths were frozen shut and the only noise that they had were their own mental voices. This lasted for several long moments and neither of them were able to break it on their own just yet. They remained lost in their own thoughts.

Penny could see her mom’s eyes widening with a mixture of emotion. Penny’s own mind was being filled with different thoughts regarding this situation. She could feel her stomach becoming unfolded as she heard what her mother said regarding where she had gotten the news. Everything around her started to feel immediately heavier and harder to move around in. If her mom had said something different, she might have understood.

But if she had seen it on the same channel as her, the one that consistently labeled it an accident, then why would her mother say that it was a purposeful act? There was only one explanation that Penny could come up with and it was making her mouth taste increasingly bitter.

“Somehow you watched the same news channel as me, and when they brought up local events and tragedies, you claim that they said it was an act of malice. Yet when I watched it, I heard none of that. So….I see two possibilities here.” Penny raised her hand up and spread two fingers outward. She lowered her hand. “Either you misheard what was said and continued to believe it even after any contradicting information was given. Or…” Penny’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “...you know more about this accident than you are letting on…”

“I…” Her mother stammered. She couldn’t bring herself to speak any further and she fell silent.

Penny watched her carefully. So far, her mother was not doing anything to make it seem like it’s not what she thought it was. And the more she saw this, the more disappointed that Penny started to feel. And of course, there was her rising anger that she was struggling to keep under control. “And then there was Rudy….”

Her mom looked at her in confusion. Penny could see the silent questions in her mother’s eyes. She was more than happy to answer them for her.

“I’m sure that you are aware of what happened at the hospital a while back. Rudy had some sort of reaction. Terrified everyone, including me.” Penny motioned towards herself. She would not have admitted this to anyone else. But her mother wouldn’t really know what was going on between her and Rudy, so it did not matter. “I thought that Terry Bouffant had to be responsible and…”

“Why her….?” Her mother whispered softly.

Penny lowered her gaze slightly. “She doesn’t like me, and I doubt she likes Rudy by extension.” She lifted her head up and tried to refocus her attention on the topic at hand. “Anyway, back to what we were talking about..” Penny raised her hand up in gesture and said, “But it turns out that she was not in the building during this time. She couldn’t have been the one to do it.” Her eyes locked onto her mother’s almost immediately after that. “But I have been told that you were there. Did you see anything suspicious?”

“N-No.. not r-r-really… I-I mean…” Her mother struggled to speak, tapping her fingers together. Then she raised one hand up to stroke along her hair. “I did see him and s-s-spoke to him a little… He did sound a little scared. I offered him something to drink…”

Penny was quiet for several long moments. She tried to think of what to say after this. Her mind felt rigid, difficult for thoughts to move through it. Everything felt a little thickened by this point. And above all, her mother still hadn’t said anything that made things sound less conspicuous. She had just confessed that she was in the hospital during the incident. There was just one more question that she needed to ask.

“And what time did you give him the drink…?” Penny asked carefully, keeping her voice low.

Her mother kept herself quiet for several moments as she was struggling to think of an answer. It took her a few moments of searching through her mind for her to recall what the answer was. Penny waited to hear what her mother was going to say.

“It was..around three, I believe. Or four, at the latest.”

Penny could feel a sharpness in her stomach, ice already working to chill her veins. She took in a heavy breath as she moved her head back, giving off a small, barely audible growl. She remained still for several moments, her body’s shaking rumbling underneath her skin. She opened her tightened jaws and she hissed out one thing.

“It was at eleven…”

This was enough to make the two women go silent again. Her mother jolted a little, her eyes widening in shock. But it was not the type of shock that Penny would have wanted to see. It was not about being confused about the time. Instead, she saw a flash in her mother’s eyes that told her that she had been banking on her not knowing the exact time, or that she should have guessed well enough herself. It was all the evidence that Penny needed to move forward with the ‘talk’.

“You were the one who did it, weren’t you…?” Penny’s voice had grown dark at this point. Her throat was dry but she barely paid attention. She could feel the beginnings of tears in her eyes. These she managed to shake off as she kept speaking. “You poisoned Rudy’s drink, in hopes of… I don’t know what the fuck you wanted to do…” Penny struggled to cope with her aching head. “But whatever the case might be...you were still reason that he had gotten sick. You went in to the hospital in the morning to speak with him and then you poisoned his drink that you gave him. It was your fault that the hospital entered such a panic that day.”

Her mother didn’t say anything. All the woman could do was continue to stare at her daughter in shock, her mouth partially open.

“Then Rudy’s parents… You claim that they were killed on purpose even though the channel that you watched did not say such a thing. Is this because you were confessing the truth, mother?” Penny leaned in a little closer, her voice growing slightly deeper yet again. “Did you say that because you were the one who did it?”

Her mother stuttered, “I-I d-d-don’t get what you’re…”

Penny rushed forward swiftly, unable to hold back any longer. She grabbed onto her mother’s shoulders, making her yelp as she slammed her against the couch, weighing her down. Penny gripped her shoulders tightly, nearly piercing the skin. She bared her teeth at her mother and she growled under her breath, “You were the one who killed Rudy’s parents… weren’t you…?”

There was a long, still, and chilling silence that followed with that accusing question. The woman just stared up at her with a shocked expression, unable to move and it almost looked like she had trouble breathing. Hearts were pounding loudly at this point, echoing off of the walls. Tension grew even thicker and none of them were fully aware of their surroundings anymore. They could only look at each other as the silence engulfed the two of them.

Penny could feel her head coming alive with several thoughts as she saw how her mother was reacting to all of this. She could see the look in her eyes. She could tell that her mother was doing nothing to say otherwise in terms of the accusations. Her mother was acting more like a culprit that was caught, a culprit who did not think that anyone would figure things out. With this realization in mind, Penny thought she could feel a singular burning tear staining the middle of her cheek.

She struggled to process all of this. She could feel her body trembling as she realized the implications of the whole thing. She struggled to justify it, to look for a reason that this could have happened in the first place. But nothing she found would account for this. She failed to come to an understanding with this situation.

And it was driving her crazy.

Her mother finally broke the silence. “P-Penita… I-I-I… I don’t know why you…” She swallowed hard. “D-Do you really think that I…”

“You have not given me a reason to believe otherwise…” Penny responded, her tone kind of colder than she had intended. “All you have done was prove to me that you are no longer the mother that I used to know.” She lifted her head up her eyes twinkling slightly. “And you have not given me any further choice on this matter…”

Her mother took in a few breaths, keeping the same expression as before for a while. Then her expression turned a little firm, almost similar to the face she’d make when scolding her. Then her voice came out almost drippy and venom-like, “And you did the same with me…”

Penny could hardly react in time when her mother suddenly kneed her in the stomach. Penny gasped in pain as the air was kicked out of her body. She grabbed onto her stomach as she rolled slightly to one side. One quick movement from her mother’s leg guaranteed that she hit against the ground rather painfully. Penny let out a few groans of pain before lifting her head up to see what her mother was doing.

The woman was already off the couch, her body tensed up and hunched. The woman was looking at her carefully, as though trying to see if there was anything that she was going to do. Penny released another moan of pain before forcing herself up to her feet. She wobbled a little, the pain still echoing in her stomach. She held onto it firmly as she growled deeply, getting herself ready for the confrontation that she wished she never had to do.

She and her mom took stances in front of each other, both of them going on the defensive. They watched each other carefully, waiting to see what the other was going to do. Penny breathed heavily while her mother kept her teeth bared. The tension between them had transformed into a sharp knife that was ready to be used.

But in the end, would Penny be willing to go through with it? This was still her mother, after all. Penny was not going to like whatever she needed to do. But...she still had to do something, right…?

Her mother raised her head up slightly. Her lip quivered as it curled upward into a small snarl. It was hard for Penny to tell if this was directed at her or something else. She didn’t think that she wanted to know. But not like she could really think on it too long, for her mother’s voice started to spew out of her mouth, sounding different than what she was used to. “I knew you wouldn’t have understood…”

Penny could feel her heart tightening up at this. “So it is true. You did kill them...and you tried to kill Rudy….”

The woman before her nodded her head. “Precisely.”

Penny growled lowly, “Why though..? What point was there to…” She stopped herself as she felt her skin heating up quickly. “Just….why the fuck would you do that?!”

Her mother stared at her silently, raising an eyebrow upwards. “You really can’t see it? You really don’t know? Out of all people, I thought that you would have known…” She let out a small sigh as she took a step forward, lowering her head slightly as she gave her daughter an upwards glare. There seemed to be some sort of sparkle shining from her eyes. “I mean...you know how they treated you...and us...ever since that incident.”

Penny continued to glare at the woman. “Rudy’s ‘death’?”

“Precisely!” Her mother’s voice was a practical shrill at this point. She motioned her hand outwards quickly. “They were accusing you and me of what happened! They didn’t believe that you weren’t involved! They were blaming you for what was happening! They were going to try to turn you in! I-I had to stop them somehow…!” The woman stopped her ranting and panted heavily. Penny could only stare at her wide-eyed. Her mother licked her lips and said, “Y-You should understand that I was just doing it for you… I had to protect you somehow….”

There was temptation for Penny to say something, but she remained silent. She had a feeling that it was just going to just bite her back in the ass. So she waited in silence to see what else her mother was going to say.

“I-It wasn’t easy for me to do, b-but… with them gone… at least everything would have been over. Th-There would have been no need f-f-for…” The female vet couldn’t seem to finish her sentence. Her body trembled as emotion wracked through her body and voice. “A-A-And then R-Rudy came back a-a-and…” She darted her eyes left and right, her throat sounding dry and raspy. “It m-m-made me realize what if I h-had just..not...if I w-w-waited… Maybe things would have been better a-a-and I-I…” She gripped the sides of her head tightly, swinging it two and fro. “I had to do something about him, too, Penita! I-I had to get rid of him too!”

Penny felt her teeth clenching more firmly, her tongue pressing between them as she lightly chewed on the tip. She cared little for the small bits of pain that she felt as she stared intently at the woman before her. She had trouble recognizing her as her mother. Instead, she just saw a pathetic sad sack who had taken things too far and was trying to masquerade around like everything was okay, that she had done the right thing.

Then Penny went rigid and shook when she realized that’s exactly how she had been acting herself. She had realized this already but it still stung to think about. But she had constantly acted like she was in the right, that Rudy deserve what kind of treatment that he had gotten from her. She was a hypocrite for calling her mother out on the same behavior that she…

Penny released a low growl and knocked that thought out of her head. She shouldn’t be letting herself get carried down like this. She shouldn’t be letting this realization cloud her judgment. In the end, it was not her mother’s place to deal with Rudy. And she was way out of line with what she had done to Rudy’s parents. The thought on this weighed down heavily on Penny’s shoulders and she still could not believe it to be true. Just what the fuck had her mother been thinking?

But just what was she going to do? Did she have it in her to turn in her own mother? It was a different situation with Rudy. She had only known him a short time compared to her mom and… But did that even make sense? She could feel her head aching as she churned through her thoughts. She realized that something had to give. She just didn’t know what that could be.

Her mother was still panting heavily and it looked like she was going to pass out at any given moment as she tried to keep herself breathing steadily. Her hand was grabbing at her chest, clutching it tightly, fingers looking like they were going to drive right through. The woman lowered her head and seethed through clenched teeth. Then she lifted her head and turned it towards Penny. In that moment, the vet looked so unprofessional and so unkempt, like she had just walked in from a wind storm. Penny had never seen her mother like this before except when she was under an immense amount of stress. As such, Penny tensed herself up and prepared for whatever was about to happen.

“I-I know this is hard for you to understand… B-B-But can’t you see why it was n-necessary..?” The woman breathed. She gave something of a broken smile. “I-I was doing it for you… D-Doesn’t that matter…?”

Penny didn’t know how to respond to this. She wasn’t sure if she should take this as something to be reassured by, or more horrified.

Her mom noticed this lack of a response and her lip curled down a little. “Please, P-P-Penita.. I love you so much… I-I couldn’t let them….t-t-take you away..” She shut her eyes tightly as more tears strolled down. “I just couldn’t let that happen….!”

Penny could feel her teeth pressing against her tongue again, almost the point of breaking it. She struggled to keep herself as calm as possible, but that was clearly failing with how her body was trembling and shaking. She wanted to try to do this civilly, but her mother had already attacked her once. Who is to say that she would not attack again?

Then the back of her head flashed with images of when she had attacked Rudy. She could remember the fear and horror that she felt when she realized what she had done. She narrowed her eyes further and snorted. She was not going to let that happen this time. As anticlimactic as it was, there was one solution that was infinitely better than the one she had used on Rudy all those days ago.

And years ago…

Penny shrugged that thought off as she lightened her tense body up a little, straightening herself and starting to move a step back. She glared at her mother continuously, watching as the woman put her hands to her face and started to cry softly. Penny did feel some pang of sympathy, but that was overshadowed by her other, more negative emotions. She wasn’t going to pat her mother on the back. Rudy didn’t get a break. Nor did the zoners. Why should she make an exception for her mom?

Without saying a word, Penny turned herself around and started to make her way towards the phone. She didn’t bother telling her mom what she was going to do. No doubt, she would try to stop her. Penny made no hesitation to get over and grab onto the phone to make the call.

But she had only touched the first number before she felt a weight suddenly strike her from behind.

“Don’t do it!”

That loud shout rang throughout Penny’s head as she was slammed into the ground. She let out a loud grunt of agony and she could feel a hand pushing up against her face to keep her head down. Penny let out another painted yelp and she struggled to get her attacker off of her. But she had been pinned down in such a way that this act seemed impossible.

Penny turned her head and glared up at her mom. She didn’t know how her mom could have acted that fast. The thought frightened her. It made her wonder what was going on underneath the surface, what thoughts were surging through her head. Was it what she was making seem apparent outwardly? Or was she just acting? Penny didn’t know if she wanted an answer and she resorted to keeping on struggling.

“Y-You were going to call the police on me…” Her mother breathed. “H-How could you…” Her mother narrowed her eyes into slits, but her face contortions revealed more hurt than outright anger and hostility. “I’m your mother and I was trying to keep you from getting locked up for a crime that you didn’t commit. Why can’t you see that?!”

When her mom shouted that, she pushed down harder. Penny let out a small cry.

Her mother continued, “D-Did you know what it felt like…. To have former friends turn on you like this.. To have them threaten to throw your only daughter in jail?! And you try so hard to reason with them, but they just won’t listen?!” Her mother took a break to breathe. It was trembly and dripping with emotion. “I-I-I don’t know wh-why they wouldn’t listen…”

Penny didn’t know how this question would go, but she did need to ask her mother one thing. “And why didn’t you tell me this was going on?”

Her mother froze and became silent. Her eyes blinked as she stared down at her daughter expectantly.

“I knew there was tension but I didn’t know it was that bad. I don’t know why you didn’t inform me of this conflict you guys were having.” Penny’s voice was low but still filled with her own emotions. “If you had just told me, I could have spoken to them and we could have worked out something.”

Her mother shook her head at this. “N-No…. It would not have worked…”

“Why not? Didn’t you think of trying?” Penny inquired. “Or did you just…”

“It would not have worked! I-It couldn’t have!” Her mother sounded desperate. It was as though she didn’t want to believe any other solution was possible. Her mother did not want to experience the guilt of making the ‘wrong choice’. It was all so...familiar. “D-D-Don’t you see..? Th-There was no other ch-ch-choice…!”

Penny hardly changed her expression as she stared up at her mother with a look of disappointment. She did not try to respond verbally to that. There was no word that she could think of that could best fit what she was feeling. She just released a low snarl and she pushed herself up as hard as she could. She managed to force her mother off of her back, giving her time to move away and then turn back to face her.

She could immediately see the shocked look on her mom’s face. The vet was looking at her as though she had committed some kind of terrible crime. And honestly, she would be right on that, but it wasn’t what she was thinking of.

But her mother didn’t need to know those details.

“You still committed a crime, mother. What do you think will happen if everyone finds out that you killed two people and then were about to kill their son?” Penny asked. Her voice sounded calm, though she really had to force it to be that way. Her body was trembling internally from the effort. “You chose this path, the one that could very easily destroy your entire career if word got out.”

The female vet’s eyes widened with a level of horror at this. “Y-You’re not going to…”

Penny’s eyes glinted at this. “Any reason why I shouldn’t? You turned yourself into a murderer… And you tried to kill Rudy after he was…” She paused for a moment, trying to think of what to say. “...it looks like he’s already been through enough already.” She furrowed her eyes in deeper. “How am I supposed to trust you after that?”

“B-But I told you why I did it! I-I-It was for you! I know I sound like a b-broken record, but…” Her mother sounded increasingly desperate. “I love you…”

Penny could feel herself shuddering at that statement. Once, that would have been something she loved to hear.

But now…

“If you did love me, then you would not have gone and done this behind my back…”

“Penita…”

“Just...leave me alone.”

Penny could see the shock on her mother’s face for a few seconds. But she did not bother staring for long. She swerved her head in one direction, snorting softly. She didn’t want to continue this conversation. Perhaps it had been a mistake to come here.

But at least she now knew what happened. As horrible as it felt, it was worse when she didn’t know. At least that weight has been lifted.

But it would seem that her mother was not ready to give up on this. She could see the desperation in the woman’s eyes, how much she really, truly wanted her to understand. Penny couldn’t bring herself to say anything. By the time she could even open her mouth, the woman had already reacted.

Penny nearly let out a shout of shock as her mother suddenly charged at her again. She struggled to take some steps back. It wasn’t enough to get out of her mom’s way before those hands gripped her shoulders. She was shoved up against the nearby wall and she could feel her back exploding in pain. She squirmed and struggled before stopping to glare at her mother.

“D-Don’t make me do this, Penita… D-Don’t...please…” Her mother spoke through clenched teeth. “I-I don’t want to hurt you too..”

Penny could feel fear tingle throughout her body. Adrenaline raced through her mind and empowered the rest of her muscles, enabling her to push back against her mom to dislodge her. She stood there, huffing and puffing and she wiped away the saliva on her lips. She then said, “It’s already too late for that….”

Then without warning, Penny charged at her mom.


	33. Family Blood Lines

It was still so difficult for Rudy to fully comprehend what had just happened. He still couldn’t believe where he was or what was happening. He could not control the emotions that were wracking through his body, making it hard for him to fully concentrate. He could barely keep his breathing going and he noticed that his field of vision was continuing to blur.

But despite that, he remained standing and continued to try to face this. He had to grip onto his cane tightly. The brace, different from the one that Penny drew for him, wasn’t enough to keep all the pain out of his leg. He still needed help with his balancing. As such, he was still forced to use a cane as he walked down the carpeted hallway.

Or was that where he was at all? Maybe this was all just a dream and he was going to wake up at any moment to find out it was just a cruel trick. He could very well still be in that one room where Penny had him locked up for years. Maybe this was something that she herself had planned all along. Maybe she was the one who had tried to poison him so that he would have to stay with her. So many thoughts raced through his head that he did not realize what was going on around him.

“Rudy…? What’s going on? Why did you stop?”

Rudy’s eyes opened up wide with a tinge of horror at the feminine voice that called out to him. It had taken him several seconds to realize that this voice did not belong to Penny.

“I’m sorry, Soph…” Rudy whispered softly. “I-I guess I was just...lost in my thoughts.”

Sophie looked at him, her height matching his due to Rudy’s slightly stunted growth. “Were you thinking about...that incident again?”

Rudy knew what the teenager was talking about. He gave a small smile to her and shook his head slowly. He could tell her more about what he was thinking, but he decided that the seventeen year old did not need to know these things. She was pretty young still. He didn’t want to give her anything to be scarred about. “I’m fine. Just..a little tired, is all.”

“Did you get a good night’s sleep?” His younger cousin asked. “I heard you squirming about in the bed. Sounded like you were having a nightmare.”

Rudy could feel his heart clenching sharply at this. His slightly tired, shaken mind could barely recall the details of hours ago. He had been awake for a while, but it would seem that he did not really rest well enough. He didn’t realize it at first until Sophie pointed it out. Had he really been having a nightmare? And he just forgot about it? He didn’t know how that was possible but then again…

“I’m sure Rudy will be okay. Come on, we all need to have dinner now.” A voice called out.

Rudy could see his aunt Tilly peeking her head out from the kitchen and motioning for them to follow her. The two cousins did so immediately, although Rudy felt some hesitation in coming in. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be here. But after what Penny said and what he found out…

He could only just wonder how his aunt felt when she found out her sister was dead. It must have been such a harsh blow for her. And how did she feel when he was gone for years? She was choked up and sobbing when she saw that he was still alive. He could still feel the marks of her strong hug pushing him against her body. The thoughts and feelings and emotions that she had gone through before… The mere thought of that caused him to shake and tremble.

Then there was the fact that she was even alive at all. Penny’s horrible words about no one being left in the Real World who cared about him still rang in his head. He realized now that it was just a disgusting control tactic she was deploying upon him. But despite knowing this fact, he still felt his gut burning and stabbing at the mere thought.

He continue his way into the kitchen, not wanting to think too much about this right now. The important thing is that he was back in the Real World and, for the first time in a long time, was being treated as part of a family instead of just a prisoner. It was a weird, strange sensation that would take him a while to get used to. But in the end, he thoroughly enjoyed it and helped him feel like he truly belonged.

They headed into the kitchen where the food was laying before him. Rudy followed Tilly’s hand motions and he went over to sit in his chair. Sophie took her own close to her mother. Rudy adjusted himself, pulling his chair closer, and he stared intently at the food in front of him.

Mashed potatoes, meat loaf, and carrots… Definitely far fancier and more decorative than Penny would have given him, that’s for sure. Rudy still had to pinch himself in order to make sure that he was not dreaming all of this. The smells danced around inside of his nostrils and made him drool at the scent. He was doing his best not to jerk forward and immediately start eating. He had to wait for Tilly to give him and Sophie the okay.

His aunt Tilly looked at the two of them. She seemed to be studying them and making sure that everything was all set and ready. Then after a few moments, she gave a small smile and nodded her head. “You may eat.”

Sophie was quick in digging in. The sight of it made Rudy smile and chuckle. Seeing his cousin grab onto the fork and try to shove the whole meatloaf into her mouth was one of the funniest things that he’s seen in a long time.

In fact...probably one of the first things in years…

Rudy turned his head to look at his food. He remained frozen like this for several seconds, his hand barely making it towards the fork. He didn’t know at first why it was taking him so long to do this. He just needed to grab the fork and pick it up. So why was his trembling hand just not allowing for this?

It didn’t take him long to realize what it was.

With a small gasp, he realized that it was because he was waiting for Penny to feed him. With all the years that passed, him expecting someone else to help him with eating had become so engrained into his brain that… Rudy seethed through clenched teeth.

“Rudy, dear, aren’t you hungry?” He could hear his aunt say.

Rudy stiffened up for a moment and then he nodded his head at his aunt. “I’m fine, Aunt Tilly. Just...waiting for it to cool.”

His aunt stared at him with concern. “Okay, but let me know if you need anything, alright?”

“Yeah, okay.” Rudy said as he nodded his head. He attempted once again to eat again.

sss

Penny had a hard time believing that this was really happening. She didn’t want to think that this was something that she actually needed to do. She tried so hard to pretend that this was a dream. But as the pain continued to echo in her body, she realized the truth of it all. And there was nothing that she could do except to fight back.

She pulled her fist back and struck forward. The blow rammed up against her mother’s mouth and forced her back. The woman was quick to respond and Penny could soon feel the attack between her legs. She staggered backwards and held her hands around her groin for a few moments. The seconds ticked by painfully, her head throbbing from the blow. She forced her eyes open and she glared at the woman coming right for her. Penny looked left and right to figure out what to do. She soon took a step aside, letting her mother collide with the wall that was there.

Penny’s mind raced with thoughts as she tried to keep up with her mother’s attacks. She hadn’t expected her to react in this aggressive fashion. But she had seen how broken her mind was and she could see the desperation oozing out of her very core. Her mother had made it clear that she didn’t want to get in trouble. And if Penny insisted on calling the police, then she would make sure that this never happened.

This was when Penny realized that her mom probably didn’t care for her as much as she thought she did. Maybe her mom really was protecting her. But in the end, she was mostly only interested in her self benefit. She was the one who didn’t want to go through the trouble if something happened. She was the one who wanted to avoid the legal pain of everything. So she was doing whatever she could in order to avoid that. She was pulling whatever strings were available in order to keep herself safe.

The young woman tried not to let the irony of this get to her as she continued to dodge and counter whatever her mother tried to throw at her. This was a pretty difficult fight even from the start, considering her mother’s knowledge of anatomy. Penny could still feel the sharp pain in her arm joint from when her mother twisted it. While her arm gashes ahd healed up even further and her throat was not hurting her as much, her mother could still take advantage of that.

Just like now.

Penny seethed through clenched teeth as she felt the female vet’s fist colliding with her arm, right where she had cut herself more recently. Penny felt her knees nearly buckle and it was a miracle that she didn’t collapse.

But the vet wasn’t yet finished. Penny looked up and she could feel the woman’s legs hit her against her chin when she was low enough. This was enough to knock her on her back. Penny laid there for a few seconds and she could see the woman standing over her. Penny had to turn herself around and move quickly to avoid the leg being struck down against her already damaged throat.

The fact that her mother was reacting this way despite all the years they were together really hurt Penny mentally, even if she didn’t show it. This was a reminder to her of just how damaged her mother had been over this whole thing and it made her realize that there was far more aggression between her and Rudy’s parents than she had believed. It made her wonder just what was said to make her mom act this way.

But she could barely concentrate on that. Her mom was already coming after her. She hissed in pain when her elbow struck her in the side. Penny stiffened for a moment as she recovered. She then twisted her body around and she raised her knee up to hit it against her mother’s chest. This bought her enough time to back up and get ready for the next attack.

Her mother’s expression was getting increasingly wild and desperate, showing the raw emotion underneath. Penny could feel her aura radiating from her, highlighting just how desperate this situation was becoming. She took in a few heavy breaths as she wiped her mouth. She then took a defensive stance and waited to see what would happen next.

The woman was hesitating, perhaps trying to decide on her next move, it would seem. Maybe she was having trouble weighing in on her options or maybe she felt increasingly guilty about fighting her own daughter.

But this didn’t last long and soon her mother was coming barrelling towards her again.

Penny kicked at the ground and she rushed forward herself in response. She raised her hands up and grabbed onto her mother’s hands and began to push back. Her body slanted forward as she continued to push increasingly hard, her muscles aching and quivering from the force of it all. She could feel her muscles growing increasingly heated and her feet scraped against the ground. Had the floor been dirt, there would have been visible lines by now.

But Penny didn’t give up. Though her mom had built up more physique due to her work, Penny was not exactly a weakling either. And after she continued to push back and muster up as much strength as she could, she managed to push her mother to the side.

The woman hit against the ground painfully, landing near the tall case where the few DVDs that she owned were placed. Her mother released a groan as she rubbed her head. Then she turned to see that Penny was rapidly approaching her. Thinking fast, her mother grabbed the DVDs and started to throw them towards Penny in a ninja star-like manner.

Penny managed to move out of the way for most of them. But she could not dodge them all. Two of them sliced up against her. Across her face and one hit her throat, reopening the wound partially. With pain radiating throughout her body and tasting blood in her mouth, Penny gripped her throat and gagged painfully.

Her mother wasted no time in taking advantage of the situation. With her eyes still just as wild and wide as before, she charged towards her daughter and pushed her down, causing Penny’s head to hit up against the table behind her. This stunned Penny long enough for her mom to hold her down against the ground, securing her there. Penny tried to push her back, but she couldn’t stop her mother in time before her arms were pinned behind her back.

Penny could feel her heart racing when she heard something behind her and she realized that her mom had pulled something out to keep her arms trapped behind her back. By the time she had realized this, it was already too late and she found that she could no longer move her arms well. It was only when her arms were tied tightly that her mother finally took a step back away from her.

Her mother still looked rather fearful and there was some regret shining in her eyes. For a few moments, it did look like her mother was having a ‘what have I done’ expression lingering on her face. But this gave way to her seemingly accepting this as a necessity. Her eyes narrowed slightly and she regained her composure. She took a more rigid stance and she looked as though she was trying to be professional about this whole thing. She even forced herself to exhale as though reminding herself that this needed to be done.

Penny was already testing her binds. She twisted and she turned a little and she could feel how tight that it was. She pulled increasingly harder and nothing was working. She was going to end up dislocating her own arm if she kept this up or if she wasn’t careful. So she forced herself to settle down and wait for a new chance to get away.

By this point, her mom seemed to have calmed down enough and didn’t look quite as panicked as before. Yet it was still obvious that the older woman was trying to figure out what to do. She looked shocked that she had to do this and was still regretful over the whole thing. It took what felt like many minutes before her mother finally spoke up again.

“I...am sorry it had to come to this….Penita.” Her mother’s words sounded a little bit drier than usual. She let out a trembling breath. “But you gave me little choice in the matter. I didn’t want to have to do this. You forced my hand.” Her mother’s voice felt like it was growing darker, but it was hard to tell. Penny could not fully keep up and she tried again to struggle to no avail. “I knew that I had to get rid of Rudy and don’t worry, I will take care of him after this. But for you…”

Penny glared up at her mom. She felt herself freezing when he could feel her mom putting her hand on her shoulder. The creepiest thing about it is that it was still a clear attempt to try to comfort her. But all it did was make her grow even more wary of her.

“I...can’t believe I will have to kill my own daughter…”

Penny felt her eyes widen in horror at this.

Her mom let out a small sigh, regret shining in her eyes. “My sincerest apologies, Penita. I will try to make this quick.”

“Y-You can’t do this!” Penny’s struggles returned with a vigor. She was not about to let her mom get away with something like this. “G-G-Get away from me, you bitch!”

Her mother’s expression barely softened up. “I have to make sure that nothing crazy happens. I have to avoid the legal repercussions. I can’t trust you to keep quiet about this. I am not going to get dragged down by this. Not even by you...my daughter.”

“Oh shut up about the formalities! It’s not like you actually care about me!”

Her mother’s eyes glinted slightly. “I do care about you. That’s why I had done all of that, to keep you safe.” She leaned her head in a little closer. “And despite this, believe it or not, I still don’t regret the choices.” Penny widened her eyes at this. “Well maybe I do miss them. Maybe I will miss Rudy. But the positives outweigh the negatives. Don’t you agree?”

Penny shook her head and snarled at her mother. “You’re just hiding from your own mistakes!”

Penny had to freeze at this as she felt her head exploding with thoughts. She could hear her own mind scolding her for what she said. Wasn’t she being hypocritical herself? Why did she continue to be like that when she had acted the same way before?

But she easily drove those thoughts away again. She knew that they would keep coming back, but she did all that she could to ignore them. She kept her eyes on the woman before her, baring her teeth firmly. She wasn’t going to go back on what she said. She believed that her mother was going too far and she was not going to go back on that just because of her own hesitations.

Her mother released a few chuckles. They were weak and almost barely noticeable. But they were still there and they were enough to make Penny rear her head back a little. It made her wonder if her mother was already losing her mind. Had something finally snapped inside of her head? Penny tried her best to hold herself still as she waited to see what would happen next. A part of her hoped that her mom was not actually serious about this. But after all that she had seen, there was little hope that she could lean on.

Her mom turned her back at this point and had started to walk away. This would have given Penny the chance to try to get away herself, but then she remembered that her arms were tied behind her back. This greatly limited her ability to get up and she had her doubts she could get far like this.

But that didn’t stop her from trying, anyway. Penny tossed and turned on the ground, trying to gain enough momentum to get on her stomach. If she could succeed in doing that, she just might be able to get up from the ground. It would be difficult, but perhaps still plausible. She struggled to keep up with this as she could hear her mother starting to speak up again.

“Sometimes in life, Penita, we need to make difficult decisions. Understand that I still love and care for you. But this is for your own good as well as mine. I don’t want you to have to deal with this suffering the way that I have.” Her mother gave pause, her tone that of sorrow. “It is rather unfortunate that it has to come to this.”

Penny didn’t stop attempting to get up. She kept on squirming about again and again, having no clue when her mom would return with whatever she was getting from the kitchen. But Penny’s attempts continued to fail and she ended up hitting against the ground once more. She let out a few small groans before forcing her eyes open and looking over to see what her mom was doing now.

She could see that the woman was starting to return. She could hear her footsteps getting increasingly closer. Penny had to lift her head up to try to see what was going on. She caught glimpse of her mom holding a knife in her hand now, pressing it against her finger and twisting it as she toyed with it. The sight of it caused Penny to gasp in horror, her heart pounding hard inside of her chest, threatening to break out. Her mother soon stopped walking and stood where she was, knife remaining in hand.

This prompted Penny to try to keep getting up to her feet. She struggled with her knees and feet to try to get some sort of footing. She used her hands however she could to push herself up, though their ability to do anything was greatly hindered. But she could not just lay there. With her body shaky and starting to sweat fearfully, she continued her struggle to get up.

“I don’t know why you’re bothering to try. I told you that I will make this quick.” Her mother approached her slowly, deliberately. This made Penny struggle even more. “Oh I know that you are desperate, Penita. I wish things didn’t have to come to this. I am going to regret doing this, if that is of any comfort.”

Penny released a low growl but she couldn’t get herself to do much of anything. She did struggle as much as she could, but at this point, was there any point? She was not going to be able to escape this, no matter what she did. She eventually just collapsed back down and laid there, releasing a few small moans as pain radiated from her injuries.

Her mother drew even closer to her, step-by-step. Penny could hear each foot fall as her mother closed the distance between them. She tried to turn her head away, not wanting to look at the woman. She bared her teeth and hissed through him, a desperate effort to get her mother to get away from her. But it was pointless and she could soon see her mother’s shadow falling upon her. Penny looked up, unable to tear her eyes away from her so-called mother.

Her mother stared down at her for a few seconds. The woman still acted as if she had some regrets about this. But that did not stop her from dropping down onto her knees before her daughter. She brought her hand forward, the one that held the knife, and placed it near Penny, though it did not touch. Penny growled at this and moved away. Her mother stopped her from getting too far by grabbing onto her neck and holding her down. Now Penny had nowhere to go.

“Please try to understand. I am doing this because I love you. You don’t want to go through what I have to. I am doing you a favor. I wish you could see that.” Her mother told her, speaking softly. “Now just hold still…”

It took seconds for the cold blade to reach Penny’s throat. As soon as it touched, Penny immediately started to freak out. She kicked her legs out wildly and somehow managed to land a blow against the female vet.

“Ugh..! Penny! Don’t make this harder than it has to be!” Her mother snarled.

Penny just glared back, ignoring the small knick that her mother had given her. When the woman tried to lower her hand back, Penny’s swirling mind prompted her to launch her head forward and bite. She made her mark on one of her mother’s fingers. She bit down as hard as she could and easily drew blood.

Her mother let out a scream and yanked her hand back. Penny’s teeth tore a small gash there. Blood soaked her mother’s hand. The woman was staring at this in shock and horror. Her body trembled with a mixture of emotion. Then she turned to stare at her before her expression shifte to anger, her lip curling up.

“Why do you chose to make this so hard for me, Penita..?” Her mother asked. “I explained to you why this needs to be done. You are making it way harder for yourself.” She pointed her knife in her direction. “I already explained to you why this needs to be done!” She moved the knife in one direction, her eyes widening slightly as tears seemed to be starting to form there. “Wh-Why can’t you see that…?”

There were so many things that Penny could say to that. But she couldn’t bother to bring herself to try. It wasn’t like it was going to matter all that much in the end. Everything seemed to be falling apart all around her. Was there even a point to still keep this up? She wasn’t going to make much of a difference. From what she had seen for herself, her mom was just too far gone at this point.

“At least try to see it this way.” Her mother said. “You’re not going to have to suffer the potentiality of being thrown in jail.”

“Wh-Why would that even happen?!” Penny heard herself saying before she could stop herself.

Her mother gave a small chuckle. “Maybe Joe and Millie Tabootie had sent a report to the police or hid something to try to have you arrested. Maybe it just needs to be found and then they will drag you away.”

Penny bared her teeth. “I have my doubts that they would have done that.”

“Oh? How do you know?” The woman tilted her head to one side. “Have you been paying attention at all to how they were acting? I wouldn’t put it past them to try something like that.” She leaned in slightly closer. “And then there’s Rudy. If his own parents could turn on you, so could he. Maybe he’s the reason that you ended up hurt in the first place.”

Penny widened her eyes slowly at this. Her eyes looked down in an effort to see the gash on her neck, even though it was physically impossible.

Her mother too note of this. “He’s the one who gave you that gash on your neck, is he not?” Penny didn’t answer. But the way that her facial expression shifted was enough for her mother to go by. With a low growl, she said, “I knew it… He is just like his parents… I was right to try to get rid of him, too…”

At this point, Penny couldn’t think of anything else to say to her mother. She looked up at the woman in fear and shock, her swirling mind wondering just what happened to the woman that she used to know. How long had her mother been like this? What had finally made her snap? The thought of her mother changing so drastically chilled her to the bone. It was like she didn’t even know her any longer.

And it served as an unsettling reminder. After all, she herself had changed quite a lot over the years. She was no longer the sweet, innocent yet smart girl that she had been when she was ten years old. She had become toughened, had been willing to go to extreme lengths, and she could not call her mother out for being a murderer as she herself had killed as well. The phrase ‘like mother, like daughter’ immediately haunted her and as she stared up at the female vet, she swallowed hard.

Had she become like her mother?

Or did her mother become like her?

It felt way too late to be asking those questions, however. Penny could only remain silent as her mother got ready to go in for the kill yet again. Penny didn’t know what she was going to do and she wound up holding still as that knife was being brought towards her again.

“This is where we part ways, Penita…” Her mother’s voice was but a whisper at this point. But it was still ringing with emotion. It sounded like the woman was really struggling to keep herself together. “But I promise that after this, no one will try to hurt you again. No one...will be able to.”

Penny could feel her head exploding with many thoughts. She struggled to think of what she was going to do. There had to be something that she could still do to get out of this mess. There had to be a way that she could fight back. This could not be where it all ends. Penny could feel a few tears moving down her face as she tried desperately think of an escape plan.

Then the sharp blade started to cut into her neck and….


	34. Crime Scene

“Is there a reason why you wanted to come here now?”

Rudy nearly jolted when that question was asked seemingly out of nowhere. But he realized that he had been spacing out a little since the ride started. He could not remember just how long they had been on the road. But it felt like a longer time than usual. Perhaps it was his nervousness over the situation that was making him feel like this.

Rudy cleared his throat and said, “Y-Yeah.. I wanted to ask Mrs. Sanchez what she knows about….what happened to my parents.” His voice trailed off as he said this, fear lingering in his voice. The idea of talking to anyone about this was stressful. But he knew that it had to be done.

His aunt Tilly let out a small sigh. “Rudy...I already told you what I knew. Why do you think it is important to talk to Mrs. Sanchez about this? She is just going to tell you the same thing.”

“I know… But still, I feel like I have to go try. Maybe she has more things that she could tell me about the incident.” Rudy motioned his hands outward a little as she continued to speak. “I...I just feel that there’s...more to what happened. I find it hard to believe that my parents just… No, they would have been more cautious and…”

“Rudy, dear…”

The young man went silent.

“I know that you are desperate to learn more, but…” Tilly let out a small sigh. “You really need to put this behind you and try to focus on recovering. You aren’t doing yourself any favor by obsessing over this. You’re only hurting yourself more, and you are hurting those around you. Can’t you see that?”

At this, Rudy looked behind him and he could see Sophie looking at him in confusion and concern. Rudy felt his own eyes widen as he slowly realized what he was doing. Just how much had Sophie been hurt by this?

But he still couldn’t give up now.

“I-I am so sorry about this. R-Really…” Rudy lowered his head, feeling some shame spilling out towards the ground beneath him. “B-B-But I really feel like I have to….”

“Why do you have to?” Tilly asked firmly as she made a turn onto another road.

Rudy was frozen at this question. He wasn’t sure how he was going to respond.

Tilly gave him a sideways glance. “You are really disappointing me right now, Rudy. Even after you seem to know what you are doing, you are still going for it. Do you not care how much you are hurting me and your cousin..? Do you even care about us enough to do the right thing? Or are you doing to let yourself continue to dive down this rabbit hole?”

Almost immediately, Rudy could feel himself trembling, emotions rising up inside of him as he stared at his aunt. He didn’t realize just how sharply he had reacted until he got a good look at his aunt’s face. She was looking at him with a level of shock that he did not expect. This nearly caused him to fall down despite being in a moving vehicle and strapped down. It took him a while to fully recover from this.

Rudy turned his head away, guilt rapidly growing up into his head. He rapidly realized just what had gone on and he felt his teeth pressing into his lip firmly. Had he just…. Oh shit, he hadn’t meant to do something like that. He did not mean to scare his aunt into silence and he didn’t mean to make Sophie cry out in fear like that. Oh shit, what had he done…?

“Why did you….look at me like that….?” Tilly whispered. “D-Did you think I was going to…?”

Rudy looked over at her sadly. He could not bring himself to answer. He just kept his gaze level with her and sadness poured out of his eyes. This was enough to signal to his aunt what he was thinking and it caused her to gasp in horror.

“R-Rudy… Just….what had happened to you….?” His aunt whispered under her breath. “Y-You seem so…”

Rudy just shut his eyes and turned his head away. He didn’t know if he wanted to hear what his aunt was going to say. Besides, he already knew it was going to be true. He had changed, even if he wanted to pretend that he didn’t. He had gotten so used to the abuse that Penny dished out that he had inadvertently taught his mind to react to anyone the same way if he heard them speak like she had or even remotely like her. The realization filled him up with shame, but there was little that he could do to grow out of it.

At least, not for a long time.

Rudy didn’t want to stay silent for long. He realized that he needed to say something in order to comfort his aunt and cousin. They deserved some level of relief, didn’t they? Even if he was still broken inside, he still needed to try to help them. So he cleared his throat and he got ready to speak.

“Guys, I…” Suddenly he froze and his eyes widened in horror. “Aunt Tilly, look out!”

“What the?!”

Slam!

Rudy felt his body jerking forward and he had to hold on tightly as his aunt struggled to stop the car in time. He could feel it spinning around in circles as his aunt tried her best to take control. Around and around, they went and he could hear Sophie screaming as she held onto whatever she could. Rudy pressed his fingers against the car leather and tried to endure the loud screeching sounds.

It took Aunt Tilly a while before she regained control of the car after narrowly dodging the tree. But as they all found out when they opened up their eyes, the event caused the tires to tear up into someone’s yard and dirtied up the car. But they hardly paid attention to that at first as they were all panting heavily, struggling to recover from the incident. They looked at one another, thoughts racing through their minds, and they struggled to come to terms with what just happened.

Rudy’s whole world started to feel blurry as his heart pounded inside of his head. He opened his mouth up and continued to pant, his throat going dry really quickly. He put his hand to it and rubbed it up and down. He put his other hand to his leg and winced as he felt the pain sizzling along, showing how much it had been irritated. Then he let out a loud seethe and arched himself back as he felt a sharp pain in his chest. It felt like he was going to regress back into that helpless state at any given moment.

Rudy turned his head to see how the others were doing. His cousin was still hyperventilating while his aunt was hunched over, her head pressed up against the wheel of the car. Rudy immediately panicked at this and he reached towards her and started to shake her.

“A-Aunt Tilly…?” Rudy whispered as he called out to his aunt. “P-Please… I…”

His aunt groaned and she pushed herself upwards. She put her hand on her head and shook it before looking at Rudy. She coughed a few times before giving Rudy a reassuring smile. “I-It’s okay, R-Rudy. I-I’m fine.. H-How is Sophie?”

Rudy paused for a moment and struggled to think of an answer. His heart was still pounding in his chest and he was still trying to catch his breath. Thoughts of where Sophie was had left him for those few moments. It was only when he shook his head and forced himself to look behind him did he see that Sophie was clinging to the front part of the seat before her. She didn’t look too worse for wear, save for the fact that she was obviously shaken up.

“She looks like she’s okay... Aren’t you, Soph?” Rudy asked. He kept his eyes on his shaky cousin, biting his lip as he felt really bad for her. Poor girl.... He couldn’t imagine the thoughts going through her head right now.

Sophie forced herself to lift her head up. She stared over at Rudy, her lower lip quivering. Then she managed to nod her head slowly. “I-I’m okay...”

Rudy smiled at this. “I’m glad to hear that.”

Tilly unhooked her seatbelt. The sound of the sheat of leather whiplashing about caught Rudy’s attention. He flinched a little as he heard the small thuds as he turned his head to see that his aunt was getting herself out of the vehicle. Rudy hesitated for a few moments before he followed suit.

The first thing that his aunt did when she was out of the car was go around to where Sophie was. The door was opened up and Sophie almost immediately ran to her mother and held onto her tightly. Rudy looked at her sadly, hating to see her like this. He wished that he could think of a way to help her feel better. But at the moment, nothing would come to mind. He was at a loss of what to say or do to help lighten up the situation. It got worse when he happened to get a better look at the damage of the car.

It wasn’t terrible compared to other things that he had seen. But there was still some dents and scrapes and it was obvious that the car had hit against something solid. One of the headlights was cracked apart. There were some torn up rocks and grass on the ground, giving an indication of what had been hit. Rudy couldn’t help but flinch at the sight of this. But he tried not to think about it too much.

He could feel a sharp pain in his leg. The adrenaline had died down enough that he could feel the pain returning and he immediately staggered to one side. He had to scramble with his cane to rebalance himself. He was soon able to settle himself down and balance his body more securely.

“Are you okay?” He could hear his aunt ask.

Rudy nodded his head. “I’m still fine. Still okay...” Rudy lifted his head up to take a look around. “Where did we....” Rudy suddenly stopped. Turning his head to one side, he could see just where they were and what they had crashed into.

Mrs. Sanchez’s yard.

Rudy’s heart froze and his immediate worry was that they had crashed into the animal section of her home. And that did seem to be the case. The rocks and grass looked like they had belonged what could have been a fountain of some sorts near where the animals were kept. Looking around, he could see there were wood splinters and dirt marks all over the place. This all served to make his blood run colder.

The only bit of relief came from when he realized that none of the animal enclosures, nor the barn itself, had been struck. So at least there had not been any animal fatalities. Rudy let himself sigh in relief. But that didn’t fully relieve his mind. He knew that they had to speak to Mrs. Sanchez so that she knew what happened.

Tilly had already been right on that. In his stunned state of seeing the damage, Rudy hadn’t noticed that his aunt was already making her way towards the front door. Rudy looked over and watched as his aunt stepped up towards the door. Mustering up his muscle strength and trying to ignore his pain, Rudy hobbled after her.

Tilly knocked on the door and waited for a response. Strangely, there was none, even during the many seconds that it took Rudy to get up behind his aunt. Tilly frowned and leaned forward once again. She started to knock a second time. But there was still nothing.

“This is odd....” Tilly whispered softly. “What could be keeping her...” Tilly knocked on the door a third time. She tried to be louder this time, hitting the door harder and more firmly, hoping to get the woman to respond this time. But just like before, no answer. “What in the world....”

Sophie leaned against her mother. Her body still had some shakes to it, indicating how nervous she still felt after the accident. “M-Maybe she’s tired...?”

Tilly shook her head. “She usually at least says to hold on. I don’t know why she isn’t responding this time.”

Rudy furrowed his eyes. Something about this clearly didn’t feel right. His aunt was correct. Total silence was not something they would have gotten. At the very least, someone else would have opened up the door if she were busy. Like another customer who was waiting to speak with her. So what else could be going on? He had his doubts that Mrs. Sanchez would be so negligent as to not open the door, and instead just nap all day. Didn’t really make sense for her.

But standing around here thinking about it wasn’t going to help them solve this situation. Several minutes had already passed by and so far, they didn’t see any indication of the woman coming down to get to them. They were wasting time. They were going to have to take more affirmative action. Might seem a little rude, but what other choices do they have?

Rudy didn’t even need to say anything. It would seem that his aunt already had the idea. The woman walked forward and she grabbed onto the door. She jerked it a little. It was quickly revealed to be locked. But Tilly didn’t stop. Rudy felt a tinge almost close to fear as he saw how strong his aunt was. With a sharp, heavy ram against the door, he was able to knock it down, nearly ripping it right out of its hinge. Rudy was amazed that the door could still stay attached like this.

But shock regarding the door rapidly fade as he heard his cousin Sophie let out a scream of horror and he could hear his aunt making a sharp, gagging sound. Rudy pushed himself forward to try to get a better look himself. He couldn’t get too close at first, but it didn’t take him long to at least get a good view on what happened. And when he did, his eyes widened in absolute horror.

Standing near the door way laid a horrific scene. Rudy could feel his head spinning and vision giving a few sharp blurs as he watched everything going in in front of him. He felt like he was in a dream and everything about this scene played out so surreally. He had trouble fully comprehending it, and yet it was all so clear at the same time. This confusion gave him a splitting headache and he just couldn’t fully digest it all at once.

There was a body on the ground. Rudy could clearly see who it was. He could recognize Mrs. Sanchez’s outfit, the color of her splayed hair. He could see the blood staining the ground around her and how the woman’s body had gone fully limp. He took in heavy, dry heaves as his heart pounded inside of his head. His eyes could barely tear away from this scene.

Then lifting his gaze up, he could see the murderer standing right there. He could feel his pupils shrinking and widening with fearful realization. His head exploded with flashbacks and his lips quivered.

Penny Sanchez...

The Chalk Queen...

His former friend was standing there, her body arched slightly forward as she was staring down at her hands. They were soaked in blood, and he realized that it belonged to her mother. Penny was trembling hard and it looked like tears were staining her face. She was shaking her head a little as if in denial over what happened. But anyone who was staring at this scene could tell exactly what had happened.

Everyone held still for several long moments, nobody daring to say a word or react at all. Nobody moved a muscle and the air grew thicker and heavier. Breathing grew ragged as everyone struggled in vain to keep their emotions in check. Time itself seemed to slow down to a crawl and everything around them seemed to swirl into a confusing, colored mess of blurriness.

Then Penny lifted her gaze up and she looked over at them. This caused a jolt to shoot through everyone’s body, making them move back quickly. Sophie let out a small cry as she hid behind her mother. Tilly stood protectively in front of Sophie as she glared at Penny. But it wasn’t anger that she was displaying. Instead it was more like horrified shock, as if she could not process what she was seeing in front of her.

And Rudy himself was giving Penny a cautious glare. He didn’t attempt to speak to her. His expression alone was enough for her to know the silent question radiating through his body. She didn’t need to wait too much longer to realize the trouble that she was in. She took a step back and, licking her lips dryly, she immediately bolted away.

“Come back here!” Aunt Tilly called out. “You can’t just run away from this! What the hell did you do?!”

Rudy could see that his aunt was starting to give chase. But Rudy, with a sudden influx of adrenaline, felt his feet propelling him forward faster. He had forgotten that he was at a disadvantage and he had forgotten that he should probably let his more abled-bodied aunt take care of this.

But instead, he was rushing forward. He dropped his cane and just ran as quickly as possible. His leg was already on fire and his chest was about to burst open. Yet that pain was pushed into the background of his mind as he kept going, his mouth open and heaving as he raced after Penny. Even going up the stares seemed like it wasn’t much of a challenge for him. The only thing that mattered to him in that moment was stopping her from doing whatever it is that she thought she was going to do.

His head had exploded with many thoughts as he tried to digest all that has happened. He could feel his gut twisting up in burning disgust as he realized that Penny had been willing to kill her own mother. She couldn’t deny it no matter what she did. The evidence was right there. Rudy and his aunt and his cousin all saw the dead body and saw her standing there. It was one thing for her to kill zoners, something he already despised about her. But for her to kill her own flesh and blood...

Rudy felt his adrenaline rise up higher. He could feel himself moving faster and faster. He was rapidly gaining on Penny as she fled into her room. He knew exactly what she was going to try to do. She was going to attempt to use her old chalkboard from when she was ten to try to escape into ChalkZone. But Rudy was not going to allow her to do that.

Before Penny got two feet into her old childhood bedroom, Rudy launched himself forward and he grabbed onto Penny’s legs. He pinned them together and the force of his movement caused Penny to come plummeting to the ground. He could hear Penny letting out a yelp of pain as her chin smashed against the floor beneath them.

Immediately, the two of them started to wrestle with each other. Rudy didn’t know how long that the adrenaline would last. But he hoped that it would last long enough for him to keep up the fighting with Penny.

It didn’t take long for Penny to start gaining the upperhand. Even in the midst of her frightened state, Penny still seemed to recall that Rudy had some notable injuries. She jammed her elbow into his thigh, causing him to scream in agony and release her. Penny rammed her foot against him and caused him to flip himself over, rolling on the ground a few times.

By the time Rudy was able to get back up, Penny had already gotten a portal drawn on the chalkboard. Rudy could feel his heart exploding at this, anxiety washing over him like someone having turned on a runny faucet. Then he shook his head and he forced himself to run after her. Even though each step wracked his body in agony, he still went for it, knowing that he had to get over there as soon as possible.

But before he could even grab her, Penny had already gone through the portal and he knew that it would only take a second or two before she would start to erase the entry way. Rudy narrowed his eyes into slits and, with one final burst of adrenaline, he rammed himself through the opening before this could happen.

The end result sent both adults rolling and tumbling along the chalky grass, belonging to the same open field that they used to play in when they were younger. But this brief moment of nostalgia was overtaken in Rudy’s mind by pain as Penny turned her attention towards him and started to attack him out of self defense. Rudy had to quickly bring his arms up in front of him to try to block some of the attacks that she was attempting to use against him.

Rudy had trouble standing back up as the pain was returning to him with a vengeance. He realized how stupid it was for him to leave his cane behind. This left him in a weakened state to be able to fight against Penny. Just what the hell had he been thinking?

Yet thinking about the trouble that she had caused, thinking about how she had murdered a bunch of zoners in ChalkZone and took her mother’s own life, that was enough to help him just barely ride past the pain. He still staggered and his leg still wobbled and he was still had a disadvantage. But at least he was going to make sure that Penny couldn’t easily take him down.

In the midst of it all, he was still able to get some blows against his former best friend. He struck against Penny a few times, making her yelp in pain and stagger back. She held onto her stomach as she seethed through clenched teeth. Rudy charged forward and headbutted her towards the ground. She grabbed onto him and sank her fingernails into his skin. Rudy fought against his fear as he wrestled with Penny across the ground.

sss

“Hey, your....highness... You might want to take a look at this.”

Skrawl ignored the sarcasm in Craniac’s voice as he walked over towards him, his arms folded to his chest. Skrawl could see that the pale red robotic zoner had placed himself in front of one of his cameras, looking at something that had obviously gotten his interest. Though Skrawl would rather be working on something else, he still got himself to go over to see what had gotten Craniac’s attention.

“Let me see that.” Skrawl snarled as he moved himself foward to take a good look. He adjusted the camera’s peep hole enough for him to take a look for himself. He had to move the handlebars at the side to sharpen the image. But when he saw what it was, his eyes widened. “Well I’ll be.... Is that...?”

Craniac replied, “Yes, indeed. There’s no mistaking it.”

Skrawl watched the image of Rudy and Penny fighting it out in an open grassy field. He couldn’t tell where this was specifically but he was pretty sure it wasn’t that far away from ChalkZone City. They were close. He had no idea why they were fighting, but he couldn’t help but be a little drawn in to what was happening.

It did look obvious that Penny was going to win. But the mere fact that Master Tabootie was able to hold his own for this long... Skrawl couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride for his idiotic creator.

Of course, there were thoughts going around inside of his head that were questioning just how all of this was going down. But Skrawl didn’t care about that right now. He was more interested in seeing the results of this fight, to see just who would come out on top. He forgot about Craniac behind him as he leaned in a little closer, adjusting the image for a better look.

Rudy was putting up quite the fight. He struck at Penny and knocked her down. He managed to do this more than once and this was in spite of the fact that Rudy was at a clear disadvantage here. Skrawl didn’t know how the boy could keep up like this. The question burned more clearly when he saw that Penny was fighting dirty and kicking him against his damaged leg. Such a low blow...but Skrawl practically approved of it.

He could feel Craniac’s hand tapping him on his back. This was enough to make Skrawl jerk his head a little and he turned to glare at the zoner behind him. “What is it? Can’t yo usee that I’m busy?!”

“Well don’t you think we should do something about this?” Craniac asked him. “We can’t just those two murder each other out there.”

Skrawl raised an eyebrow. “And why not?”

“Because...” Craniac stopped himself in midsentence, his hand frozen in the air. It looked obvious that he wasn’t able to think of how to finish his sentence.

Skrawl just smiled at this. “I had a feeling that you wouldn’t be able to answer, Craniac. Maybe we should just let them go through with this. It would make things easier in regards to the little set up I have to make for....”

Skrawl’s voice quickly faded into nothingness as he realized that the ‘deal’ was for nothing. He had wanted to ensure that Rudy and Penny survived but he had forgotten why that was. Now here he was, wanting to see if the two would end up killing each other, and he soon realized that would have rendered his deal with that foul human pointless.

He would need to make sure that the two survived this.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Skrawl turned his head and stared intently at Craniac. He pointed his hand at him and gave him a single command. “Find the nearest four Beanie Boys on the double!”

Craniac only hesitated for a few seconds before he scrambled off in one direction. Skrawl watched him leave before shifting his attention back to the camera. He could feel his gut twisting up inside as he realized that he would not be able to rid himself of these two nuisances.

Then a smile formed. Perhaps they might be useful for something else. Only time would tell.

sss

Everything around her felt like it was buzzing, becoming louder and more swirly. Her head thudded and ached. Her teeth were mostly clenched save for the times when she had to cry out in agony. Her world was unrecognizable and she could feel herself ringing sharply in pain a few times as she was being struck. Yet determination kept her where she was and she kept on fighting.

But why did she keep on doing this? She knew what her fate was. She knew what was going to happen in the end. She knew how much she had royally screwed up. Was there any point in doing any of this any longer?

Though she had no answer to that, Penny just kept on fighting anyway. It was all that she knew that she could do. It was all that she was capable of doing. She pushed back against her attacker. Her crowded mind was only just barely aware that it was Rudy whom she was fighting with. She couldn’t fully register the shock that she felt regarding Rudy fighting her like this at all. All that she could do was focus her attention on struggling to keep him at bay.

But Rudy was rather determined. He was clearly in pain and clearly at the weaker end of the spectrum here. Yet that did not stop him from fighting back against her. He struck out against her multiple times and even resorted to biting her. Penny flinched and she thought she could feel more blood staining her body. This realization made her feel cold as ice and she punched Rudy against this head. This gave her enough time to try to put space between them.

Penny had been hopeful that she would have some sort of edge over Rudy. But she had been sadly mistaken. He had recovered quicker than she had anticipated. She didn’t get that far before Rudy had grabbed onto her yet again. In desperation, Penny struggled to keep the two of them from collapsing into the ground. But her efforts were useless and she soon could feel Rudy’s weight pushing up against her.

It took several tries and Penny had to struggle the best that she could to push back harder, but she did manage to grab onto Rudy in such a way that she could toss him further back. She kicked him hard in the leg, making him cry out in pain, and he stumbled into the ground. This time, unlike his previous attempts, it didn’t look like he was going to get up from this any time soon. Penny stared at him with a glare, watching as he struggled. She slowly started to make her way towards him.

Many thoughts raced through her head as she got in closer to him. She couldn’t bring herself to say anything. She thought that anything would end up as just toxic fumes coming out of her mouth. Her body was already shaking badly with emotion enough as it was. She didn’t need to make it worse for herself.

And yet despite all of that, Rudy still looked rather defiant. She could see the glare in his eyes and how they glowed. She could see the determination written all over his face. He was clearly pushing aside his pain and fear as he fought against her. He was even still trying to get up onto his feet despite what she had done. She couldn’t help but feel that perhaps she had underestimated him.

That just gave her more reason to deal with him before...

A part of Penny suddenly froze when she remembered what she had done to her mother. This was enough to make her stop moving entirely. The thoughts rushed through her with no sort of warning, nothing to tell her what was going to happen. She stumbled back and grabbed onto her head. Her whole body became chilled to the bone and her eyes widened in horror.

She could feel the memories flooding back to her. She could feel it all crowding around inside of her head and showing no signs of slowing down any time soon. She could feel her head vibrating and quaking and her teeth chattered as a result. She struggled not to let her fingernails dig into her flesh. But she did it anyway regardless. She could feel the piercing of skin and a tiny bit of blood started to ooze forward. It made her feel increasingly sick and she didn’t know how long she could manage to keep herself balanced like this.

She had wanted to believe it was all a dream. She had hoped that she would wake up at any time to realize that it was just a nightmare. But she had to come to terms with reality, that this was indeed happening and that just wishing for things to get better wasn’t going to make it so. She licked her lips dryly and swallowed hard, releasing a soft whimper.

She could still see her mother’s facial expression, her eyes, in the back of her head. That vision was not going to leave her. It was going to stay with her for however long, taunting her and haunting her about her actions. Penny forced her hands down and looked at how shaky that they were. She closed them up as well as her eyes, turning her head to one side.

She didn’t have a choice. She had to do something. She couldn’t let her mother do these things. She...She was going to hurt her… Hurt Rudy, and…

But wasn’t that what she was doing right now? Isn’t that what she was doing before? She had been torturing Rudy for years. Why did she suddenly get the right to keep her mom from doing it? Did she just want Rudy to herself? Did she just want to keep pretending that she was in the right? She could see ‘Snap’s’ snarling face as she closed her eyes and she could remember his words. It was enough to make her head pound in confusion and frustration.

She realized too late that that this hesitation had given Rudy enough time to react. She let out a pained grunt when he suddenly rammed up into her. She was knocked into the ground painfully, agony echoing throughout her body, and she soon just laid there. She didn’t attempt to look up at Rudy. This included when he put his foot down on her to try to hold her still.

Was he really serious? Did he think that this would keep her down? She decided to do nothing for now. Her mind was still reeling from memories of what she did to her mother. She doubted that Rudy could make her feel much worse.

Rudy was clearly struggling against his fears here. She could hear his heavy panting and how he was trying so hard to keep breathing. She could hear his heart rate pounding inside of his chest. She thought she could feel his sweat hitting against her skin. All in all, he was reminding her so much of…

...her mother….

Penny locked up in a frozen stance again.

Rudy glared down at her as she could see from the corner of her eyes. She gritted her teeth and tried not to show too much fear towards him. But she didn’t know how much that she could hold onto this. Her body’s shaking was already returning and visions of that phantom pretending to be her deceased friend still haunted her mind’s eye. And that wasn’t even getting into the images of her mother and….

“You...murderer….” Rudy finally spoke. His voice was a low hiss, growls intermixing with it. “You killed your own mother… How could you have done that?!”

Penny could feel her heart skipping a beat when Rudy said this. She could feel something heavy and invisible striking her in the side and she forced herself to swallow hard and dryly. She had wanted to believe that she only knocked her mother out. In spite of the fact that she had heard her mother’s final breath, she still tried to delude herself into thinking that she was okay enough to be taken to the hospital.

But Rudy’s words knocked that hope right out of her skull and she felt herself go rigid and tight. She could feel her eyes burning with tears that she tried to desperately to hide. She tried to push aside the mental anguish that had dominated her head for what felt like a recent eternity.

But how was she joking?

“You’re crying….?”

Penny turned her head more to look up. She could see that Rudy looked as though he had momentarily frozen himself in place. But he did not stay that way for long. With a strong shake of his head, he seemed to knock that out of his mind and he returned to glaring at her.

“Like hell you even care… You’ve done so much damage to so many people… I would hardly believe that you still cared about anyone else.” Rudy’s voice was low and somehow had a sharpened edge to it. Hearing it was enough to make Penny cringe, yet she did nothing to stop Rudy from continuing to talk. “You stopped caring about others the moment that you started to rule as Chalk Queen. You could have taken a stand against Skrawl but you still let him influence you and you still took control. You abused the zoners and me. You didn’t seem to give a shit about Snap.”

Penny narrowed her eyes at this statement. How dare this boy say such a thing… Of course she cared. It was just…. Some things had to be done and…. What the hell was she supposed to do? Doing nothing wasn’t going to solve anything and she just…

Or was she just trying to again excuse herself? Penny rapidly realized just how screwed up her mind was, but that wasn’t enough to change anything. She still could feel her mind pushing back against this accusation, her body heating up on the inside. As far as she was concerned, Rudy didn’t know what he was talking about. He just….couldn’t have known what it felt like to…

Rudy cut her thoughts off. “You treated me like I was lower than dirt. You did so very quickly. You were fast to jump onto blaming me for Snap’s death instead of accepting what happened. You had years to change this, Penny. Years…” Rudy shut his eyes tightly as he ground his teeth together. “And still you did nothing to stop him! Even if you try to convince me that you cared, it’s obvious that you didn’t care enough to stop Skrawl from taking over! Then you went around and became a worse tyrant than him!”

Penny could feel herself growling deeply when Rudy used her name on her. But that hardly seemed to bother as much in the moment. Her attention was more focused on his accusations and how wrong he was….but also, how right he was. She couldn’t deny that she really had not been doing much over the years to…

Penny suddenly shook her head, feeling a wave of emotion striking her. Unable to filter it out of her head, Penny’s trembling body jerked forward, ramming against Rudy. The force of the impact was enough to get Rudy off of her. She got up to her feet and she glared at him, her fingers flexing in eagerness to take action.

The only thing that stopped her was when she reminded herself that there had been a reason why she had gone against her mother. She could not deny that she just...couldn’t bring herself to kill Rudy. She’s had her chance before. Heck, that’s what she wanted to do a few years back, just to end it all. But she still kept him around simply because she could not force herself to deal the deadly final blow. She’s also had her chance recently and she could have killed him. But she still kept him alive despite all of that.

Something did need to change, she realized. She was just wasting time standing here while Rudy was probably getting ready to make another move. She had to do something before…

It was already too late.

Rudy, empowered by a whole rainbow of emotions that she could feel radiating off of his body, rammed up against her again. Penny could feel his elbow striking against her arm, making her seethe and clench her teeth as she had hit against her injury. Penny didn’t just do nothing this time around, however, and she grabbed onto Rudy as the two of them fell into the ground. She struck her head against his forehead.

This immediately caused them both to feel wobbly and an echoey pain surged throughout their head. They staggered back from each other and held onto their heads, fighting to push the feeling away from them.

Penny tried to ignore how off that this made her feel as she snarled in Rudy’s direction. She charged straight for him and she grabbed onto his leg. The force of her attack was enough to bring Rudy down to his knees. He stifled a scream and he tried to fight back against her. But Penny yanked him to the ground, clinging tightly to his leg, and soon she had him pinned down to the ground.

Immediately, she started to dig her fingernails into Rudy’s leg, emotion overflowing from her mind at this point. Rudy let out a scream of terror and tried to squirm his way free. He was stopped by the agony that Penny caused as she tightened her grip on his leg and started to draw blood. Then, in an act of pure desperation, Penny started to strike against his leg, her first formed tightly and securely.

Each time she did this, Rudy screamed in agony and it sounded like it was getting worse the more that she did it. She pounded on his leg, refusing to stop. She was desperate to stop his attack on her and make him stop. This poured out along her body and fueled stronger blows, each time making Rudy screech in agony and she could soon hear him starting to sob heavily. But she still didn’t stop. She didn’t know when. She just continued to strike and claw at his leg and she could see it growing increasingly red.

Then Rudy just stopped moving altogether.

This was when Penny finally stopped. She backed away as she stared down at what she did, her eyes widening big. She gritted her teeth as she pushed her leg gently against him. Rudy was thankfully still awake, but his leg…

Penny couldn’t stop herself from flinching when she could see for herself the damage that she had done. The leg was heavily bruised and blood seeped down it. Her fingernails had become claws and tore apart the flesh. She could suddenly feel the diamond bat held in her hands again and the memory caused her to nearly lock up.

This was getting out of hand, she realized. If this were to keep up…

She stopped her thoughts when she could hear the sound of something….someone...flying towards her. She shifted her gaze just enough to slightly see that there were some Beanie Boys approaching. She furrowed her eyes as she stared back down at Rudy. She watched the boy curl up into a small ball, fear returning to his gaze, as though he was realizing or believing that things were about to go back to how they used to be.

Penny would decide upon that.

As the Beanie Boys got closer, Penny folded her arms to her chest and looked at Rudy with a mixed expression. Staring at Rudy intently, she said, “We’ll have a talk later. I think it’s time we..figured out a more...permanent solution to all of this.” She cocked her head to one side. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

Rudy took in a shuddering breath, his eyes widening in fear.


	35. The Ultimatum

No, no this isn’t how he wanted things to go down. This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t be forced to go back to his. He had to keep fighting. He had to try to get out of here. He just couldn’t go back to this. It just wasn’t fair. After he had escaped, he just….

But Rudy realized that fighting back was pointless. There was little that he could do right now. There was nothing that he could do to escape this fate. He was held down securely, hooked up to the chair that Penny had the Beanie Boys put him in. She had mentioned about a permanent solution and he realized what this had to mean.

After all, Penny had...murdered her own mother. She had caused Snap’s death and killed other zoners, including… He swallowed hard at the memory, his blood chilling as he realized that Penny could do the same thing to him.

Rudy didn’t see where the Beanie Boys had gone to, nor did he know if they were even working under Skrawl again like they had been before. He didn’t see Skrawl here either, only Penny. The Chalk Queen herself was pacing back and forth, her eyes turned away from him. She looked like she was in deep thought, trying to decide just what to do with him. And all Rudy could do was just sit here and wait for his fate to be ‘bestowed’ upon him.

A lump formed in his throat when he realized that he had called Penny by her name before. Could that be what she was referring to when she talked about needing to figure out a permanent solution? Was she going to punish him for doing the one thing that she had told him never to do? The realization buzzed around in Rudy’s head and he immediately felt sickened by this. He remembered what she had done to him that one time. Was it going to happen again? The thought filled him up with fear.

He held his breath when Penny turned her head in his direction. He went rigid as though ice had been injected into his aching joints. His leg started to hurt more as he could feel her fingernails still in there. His previous courage had faded and he no longer could bring himself to argue with her or even speak a word against her. His body quaked in fear as she started to move in closer towards him. He cringed back from her, his neck aching as he peered up at her, his mouth open and quivering and his teeth chattering.

“I am still troubled that things had to come to this, Rudy Tabootie.” Penny spoke. Her voice’s tone had a sort of formal edge to it. That was the only word that Rudy could think to use to describe it. “I would have liked for things to have been more….suitable between us. But I see that you haven’t….” Her voice trailed off, as though she was debating internally on what to say.

Rudy turned his head to the side and continued to shake and tremble. “P-Please don’t hurt me…”

Penny turned to him, raising an eyebrow. “It’s kind of late to be begging, don’t you think?” Rudy gulped at this. “You had the audacity to try to fight me. Now look at where that’s gotten you.” Penny pointed her finger in his direction. “You know whose fault that is.”

Rudy leaned himself away, feeling his heart stinging. His heart raced faster and faster as Penny got in closer. He could see the way that she was looking at him and he knew what she was going to say. Rudy shut his eyes tightly as he braced himself for Penny to start accusing him of everything like she had before.

“It’s my fault.”

Rudy froze at this statement and he looked over at Penny, his eyes blinking rapidly in confusion. Had Penny really just….?

Penny continued, confirming what he thought was impossible. “You were right about me, Rudy. I did bring this all on myself. I am the one who took action without informing you or Snap. I’m the reason Snap is dead. I in turn blamed you for it and yes, I didn’t do anything to help ChalkZone while Skrawl took over. I became a tyrant just like he wanted to be.” She closed her eyes softly. “I confess to it all.”

Rudy struggled with his thoughts after this. They clamored against his head and he couldn’t think of how to respond. He didn’t think that this day would come. To hear Penny actually shoulder the blame this time… It had to be a dream. This had to all be a dream. Yet no matter how long that he stood there waiting, he never did wake up.

It took him a few seconds before he managed to choke out, “Y-You just… You’re serious..? You….?”

Penny furrowed her eyes at him. “You and I both know that I’m the one who carved this path.” She shifted her gaze to one side. “Now all we can do is embrace it.”

“What..?” Rudy asked, confused. “I-I thought that….”

Penny looked back at him. “What? That I was going to stop this ‘madness’?” She saw Rudy nod his head and she couldn’t help but chuckle. “Oh how naive you are…. It’s been too long. The zoners already see me as one thing, and you and I…. I don’t think our view of each other can be truly mended. We’ve grown comfortable in our little ‘game’. It’s far too late to change that.”

Rudy shook his head. “N-No it’s not! I…. If you..we… try….” He stuttered in his voice, still shaking hard. “Y-You’re not even going to try to fix things?!”

Penny’s eyes glinted at this. “There is nothing that can be fixed. Not this time. No matter how hard you try, Rudy, your ‘heroic little heart’ is not going to know how to change things back to how they used to be. Even you can’t be that stupid.”

Rudy could feel himself growl softly at that remark. But his brief anger was overshadowed by the fact that this was happening at all. He didn’t know what Penny wanted to do. She had confessed to wrong-doing, but was it honest or just a show of...something? She didn’t seem like she was willing to go through the hard part of getting things done. Instead, she was lingering on the coward’s way of keeping the status quo.

He could feel his hands gripping against his chair’s arms tightly. He thought he could feel them starting to break under the pressure and his teeth pushed roughly against each other. He could feel his burning thoughts rumbling through his head. Somehow, he couldn’t be surprised that this was the path that Penny had chosen to take.

Penny’s expression softened up just slightly. “I know this may be hard to believe, Rudy, but there are things that I do regret. What happened to the zoners in ChalkZone City...” She looked down at her hand, flexing it open slowly as if to examine invisible blood stains. “I admit it shouldn’t have happened and it was a slip on my part.”

Rudy snarled, “And Snap?”

Penny flinched visibly at this, making no attempt to hide her reaction. She looked away from Rudy. “That was...unfortunate.”

“That’s an understatement.” Hissed Rudy.

Penny didn’t seem to pay him any mind. She just turned herself around, her motion almost purposefully dramaticized, and she walked away from him. She lifted her head as she looked in one direction. It was like she was trying to drag this on and one. Rudy felt his teeth gritting against each other as he tried to hold his tongue.

Then when he could see her looking back at him, a glint caused his newfound anger to diminish, replaced once more with fear. He felt himself cringing away from her as Penny returned back to him. Her eyes nearly glowed as she seemed to have figured out something that she was going to do. He could see the intent in his eyes and he could feel that anger seeping into his body, burning him at the core. He licked his lips slowly as his racing mind tried to think of just what she was going to do with him.

“I have had to think long and hard on what to do with you...Rudy. I struggled and fought with my mind to see just what is the most appropriate action with you.” Penny reached out towards him and grabbed onto his chin tightly. Rudy seethed in pain but could barely bring himself to fight against her. “I know that if I do nothing, you will still try to stop me...”

Rudy’s heart pounded loudly in his chest. He knew where this was all going to go. He waited on baited breath to know just how Penny was going to k...

“I supposed that will be our fate...” Penny released him as she took a step back. “We can never go back to being friends. That time of our lives is over.” She straightened herself up a little. “That is why I’ve decided to let you go.”

Rudy stuttered, “Y-You’re what...?”

Penny clarified, “I’m releasing you. You’re no longer my prisoner.”

Rudy had trouble believing this. He still expected her to take her word back. Yet his silence was met with no confirmation of this. Penny just continued to look at him silently, saying nothing to contradict this.

Rudy kept staring at Penny long and hard as he tried to understand what was going on here. He never expected something like this to happen. He never would have believed for a moment that Penny would do something like this. He started to feel as though this was all just some kind of cruel, bizarre dream. In all of his years being trapped with Penny, he could not fathom why something like this could happen. This was not the Penny that he had come to know.

And as a result, he could feel himself growing wary of the situation. He tensed himself up and growled in her direction, showing her that he wasn’t going to easily fall for this. He could see how she was looking back at him and he could see her small frown forming. This seemed to only confirm his suspicions and he started to struggle a little against his binds. But nothing appeared to be working.

Penny let out a small sigh and shook her head. “I would have thought that you’d be happy about this.”

Rudy continued to try to try to yank his arms out from the cuffs holding them down. But this seemed like an impossibility. They were held down tightly and firmly, as though Penny had really prepared for this. He eventually stopped tugging and he turned to glare at her, baring his teeth slightly. “Y-You just want to lower my guard..”

His expression softened up in fear as Penny leaned in and put her hands on his shoulders, gently squeezing them. Rudy immediately felt waves of helplessness striking him and he could not bring himself to do anything except stare at her. He could see Penny leaning in towards him and her eyes locked onto his. He could practically hear her thoughts echoing off the walls around him. Rudy bared his teeth tightly and he waited to see what was going to happen to him.

Penny soon pulled back from him and shifted her gaze to one side. She forced out another sigh and he could almost taste the exasperation in that tone. She soon looked back at Rudy, giving him a sideways glance. “I know that you don’t trust me all that well. But I am being serious about this.” She turned her head a little more over. “I am going to set you free. I will not hunt you in the Real World and you can go on with recovering your life.”

Rudy still found it so hard to believe. Penny had been so determined to keep him prisoner. He could not think of any reason why she would even think of just letting him go. Something must have happened to make her say this. Something else was going on inside of her head that he just wasn’t seeing.

That was why he chose to remain suspicious of her. Her actions were hiding something. She must be just trying to weaken his guard or something. She was just trying to make him bend down to her whim somehow. There was meaning behind this. He wasn’t going to let her trick him like this. Of all the rotten things to do, pretending that she was going to let him just walk away was just…

He stopped his thoughts when he felt something click. He looked down and he could see that Penny had undone one of the cuffs. He stared at this for a few seconds, unable to believe it. Then he looked over as Penny undid the other cuff. It did not take long before Rudy was able to get off from the chair, Penny pulling him forward and letting him stand up. Despite his thigh still being so achy, Rudy somehow was able to keep his balance. Then Penny moved away from him and stared at him quietly.

Rudy just stood there for several long moments as he tried to digest what was going on. He licked his lips slowly and he swallowed hard. His throat hurt a little, dried up from his emotions. He looked at Penny up and down as he tried to fathom just what she was thinking. He let his tongue move over his lips slowly and he struggled to even say just one thing. Nothing he did or thought would help him make full sense out of this.

Even Penny herself looked a little confused. It was as though she realized what she might be doing and she realized how stupid it might be in the end. Yet she was still going through with this, refusing to simply back down and change her mind. This really did seem like something she honest to gawd wanted to do.

But why would she…

Penny raised her head up slightly as she put her hand on Rudy’s shoulder. It was placed in a strange manner, her hand flattened as though to resemble a blade or something, and then Penny started to speak dutifully. “From this day forward, you are free to do whatever you want. I’m no longer your...master, whatever you would have preferred to call me. You may leave whenever you want.”

Rudy, once he was able to recover enough from the shock, breathed, “A-A-Are you….stepping down as queen?”

Penny removed her hand from him immediately. “Now where did you get that idea?” She asked. Rudy stuttered, unable to respond. “No, I won’t be stepping down. I’m not giving up this position. I’ve grown comfortable with it, eased into it like a pro.” She gave him a small smile. “And I admit, I’ve started to love the power.”

“B-But, wh-why would you let m-m-me go?” Rudy squeaked out. He cringed slightly away from her, feeling like she was going to smack him at any moment. And yet Penny remained there, watching him with her narrowed eyes. Rudy forced himself to continue, “I-I-I thought that...if you really were l-l-letting me go, that you had realized how wrong you were to…. c-control ChalkZone.”

“I don’t belong in the Real World, Rudy. I’ve already made my influence on ChalkZone and it simply can’t go back to how it used to be. The zoners need me to rule over them….because that’s all that they’ve come to know.” Penny told him.

Rudy forced himself to give some kind of glare, anything to give him a small air of defiance. “I-I won’t let that happen…! I’ll figure out a way to….”

Penny immediately covered his mouth with her hand. Despite not being restrained in any other way, Rudy couldn’t bring himself to push back against Penny. He was compelled to go quiet and listen to what she said. “I know what you are going to say and I had a feeling that it might come to this. Don’t worry, I fully expected this.” She removed her hand from him. “That is why I am going to give you a choice. It will be all up to you on what you decide to do. I will not force anything upon you.”

Rudy rubbed his mouth lightly. He could still feel Penny’s hand clamping down. This made it impossible for him to respond.

Penny continued to speak. “And here are your options, Rudy: You can either leave this world, forget all about the zoners here and what you did, and you can move on with your life. You won’t need to worry about me or anybody else. You won’t need to worry about getting hurt again. You can just live a normal life and find ways to catch up with everything. You’ll be safe and sound with your aunt and cousin. Or….”

Penny paused to catch her breath. And when she spoke again, Rudy noticed how her voice appeared to have darkened up, giving her an ominous overtone overall.

“....you can try to return to ChalkZone. You may try to come back here and help your zoner friends. You can try to take me down and free this world that you so deeply care about. But let me go ahead and give you a warning on that, Rudy…” Penny leaned in towards him, looking ready to strike against him. “If you do decide to come back here… If you dare show your face around this world again…”

Rudy could feel his body bending backwards as he tried to get away from Penny. He stared up at her with widened eyes and clenched teeth. He soon could feel her words hitting against his ears, giving an eerie caress as his body stiffened up in icy horror at what she said.

“I will kill you…”

Rudy pulled himself back quickly, staggering due to his damaged leg, and he looked up at Penny with shock and terror written over his face. There was nothing about Penny’s expression that told him that this was a joke. There was a strong tone of finality in her voice, letting him know that yes, this is how things were going to be from now on. He could feel his heart struggling to beat as the area around him suddenly grew dark and dim.

And as he stood there, frozen in place, Penny’s eyes practically shooting daggers into him, he could only think of one question.

Of the paths that Penny had given him, which one was he ultimately going to choose…?

sss

Skrawl stood still for several long moments, his arms folded behind his back. He stared out ahead through the glass pane window, observing what was going on below him. He couldn’t help but give a small smile to this, feeling a sense of happiness to see just how things were progressing. Not entirely how he had envisioned it, but this would do just fine.

He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of this before. That Beanie Boy had been right. He could have easily turned that woman’s ‘offer’ into something that he could more directly benefit from. He didn’t necessarily need to lose full control over one section of ChalkZone. It was just a matter of putting things together in a way that made it easier for him to spy on it.

That does seem rather obvious at a glance, but Skrawl didn’t know how he was going to do that at first. Terry Bouffant was smart and might have figured out if there were any cameras or not. But using this zoner’s suggestion, maybe this will make it much harder for the woman to realize what was going on. A smile spread along his face as he thought of that, giving off a series of small chuckles. Perhaps Terry should not have underestimated him.

But there were still other things that he needed to consider. He hadn’t yet gotten word from Penny regarding Rudy and what happened. He didn’t have much of an idea on how things were going to go from here. The thought made his eyes narrow a bit further and he gritted his teeth tightly. Whatever happened with that could have a big impact on what might happen with his rule later on. He could feel his stomach burning at the thought. He had managed to gain full control and then Penny…

He stopped himself, shaking his head once and trying to refocus his attention on the construction going on below. He realized that he shouldn't get himself too caught up in all of this. He wasn’t going to make the situation any better. Besides, things have improved since before, haven’t they? Perhaps he could even get Penny to see some reason.

His thoughts were cut off when he could hear something crashing below him. He immediately leaned in towards the glass and stared down, looking left and right as he tried to see what was going on down below.

It didn’t take him long to see that some of the future zoner workers down below had messed something up. A portion of construction had fallen down. Skrawl stared at this with wide eyes before slapping himself in the face. He slowly moved it down his face and he struggled to keep his emotions in check. Perhaps it hadn’t been a good idea to hire these couple of idiots. Even with their combined strength and agility and movements, they still weren’t able to do the most simple of tasks.

But that’s what he got for hiring these two morons at all. He didn’t even know why they were in the Future Zone in the first place.

Well, whatever…

Skrawl opened up the window that separated him from the zoners down below. He glared down at him as they rubbed their heads and went to recover themselves from the fall. Curling his lips up into a snarl, Skrawl curled his hand into a fist and started to shake it in the air. “You two are worst bunch of folk I’ve ever had the misfortune to deal with!”

The two zoners down below cringed at this as they stared up at him. They were both holding what looked to be boxes in their hands, as though they were getting ready to move some tools out of them. Skrawl, however, had other plans for them. He could not afford to have this construction delayed, and if these two couldn’t take it seriously…

“Enforcers!” Skrawl called out. It took seconds for one of the enforces to show up, towering over the two beastly zoners that Skrawl was pointing at. “Get rid of those two!”

Skrawl paid little mind to the pleas and shouts that the two zoners were making as they were carried off away with the enforcer holding them. He could soon hear screams of pain as they were dealt with properly, but he didn’t bother looking over to see what had happened. He instead focused on trying to think of how he was going to fix this place up. Those two fools did quite a bit of damage with their fumbling around, and the fact that they could not seem to get along well enough for collaboration.

But no matter. There should still be a way to fix this. His Beanie Boys….his former clients...they would be able to fix this up just fine. He should consider calling them sometime soon, but for now, he’ll have to settle on some minimal repairs using somebody else.

Turning his head and spotting what looked to be a pretty well built cyborg, he called out, “Hey! You! Repair the damage over here! On the double!”

Skrawl smiled as the zoner seemed to obey immediately. At least some repairs would be finished in due time. Now he could try to….

“I see you had some….issues, King Skrawl.”

The jellybean zoner jolted at this, not having expected the Chalk Queen to show up out of nowhere like that. He turned to face her, but before he could say anything, he felt frozen by how she looked. He blinked a few times and then slowly raised his hand up to point at her face. “Y-You got something on your…”

“Yes, I know.” The Chalk Queen said quietly. She raised her hand up and moved it over the blotches of blood that had clung to her face. No doubt they belonged to those two idiotic zoners that Skrawl had taken care of. But realizing that some of their blood hit her face made him freeze and he wondered how she would respond. But he just shrugged it off and said, “Don’t worry about it. Just wanted to see what you were doing.”

Skrawl suttered at this as he tried to think of how to respond to it. He still did not want Penny to know what this place was. She didn’t seem to know its function at the moment and while this was good, he didn’t know how long that was going to last. Something could easily change at any moment and the thought made him grow increasingly wary over the whole thing. Something could happen and he could wind up in huge trouble.

There was only one thing that he could think to do, and that was to change topics. Something that he knew angered the Chalk Queen. But perhaps not so much this time around given what he wanted to bring up. After all, it was something that he was genuinely curious about.

“What happened with Rudy?”

Penny was silent for a few moments, her eyes narrowing slowly. At first, Skrawl flinched and he prepared himself for how Penny was going to respond. But instead of slapping him or anything violent like he thought she was going to do, she just let out a small sigh and her response came in more softly than he had anticipated. “I let him go.”

“Oh I see, you… what?!” Skrawl called out, unable to believe what he heard. “You just let him go?”

Penny nodded her head. “And no, I won’t bother trying to erase your memory this time. Not like it would matter.” She closed her eyes for a few seconds. “Everyone already knows about what I did.” She reopened her eyes and stared up at Skrawl. “But don’t think this will be the last time that we’ll see of him.”

“What do you mean?” Skrawl asked amidst his confusion.

“He might come back. And I told him that I would kill him if he attempted to return.” Penny stated. There was no hesitation or emotions in her voice. Just a simple, matter-of-fact statement.

Skrawl just stared at her slightly wide-eyed. “And you...meant it?” He raised his hand up in gesture, curling his claws inward as he looked at her suspiciously. “You said that you killed him before and you did not. Are you actually willing to go through with it this time? Are you willing to take the life of your...best friend…?”

Penny grimaced at that statement, as if nearly grossed out by it. She turned her head and she looked over her shoulder. She appeared to be staring at something that Skrawl could not see. She remained like this for a few seconds before she gave her answer.

“...yes.”

Skrawl fell silent, unsure of how to respond to this. His head was mixed with many thoughts. But in the end, he did feel some happiness that she was actually serious this time. Perhaps now, there will be less confusion and uncertainty between the two of them. Perhaps he will soon have less of a reason to try to go against her…. Or perhaps he was just kidding himself. Still, he was hopeful that some more things will start improving now.

Although admittingly, the way that Penny said those words without any sort of hesitation…. He tried his best to swallow as quietly as he could. He didn’t want to get Penny’s suspicions up. He did have some other things to concern himself with at the moment. He would keep his guard up in case the Chalk Queen did try something rather stupid later on. But for now….

Skrawl cleared his throat and said, “S-So...you wanted to know what I was doing?” He didn’t want to stay on the same subject as before. He needed to think about something else in order to regain some of his senses.

Penny seemed a little confused by this at first, but then she quickly realized what he was talking about. She gave a small, simple nod. “Yes, please explain.”

Skrawl realized that he might have just made a mistake. Perhaps it hadn’t been smart to bring this up. After all, just what was he going to tell Penny? But it was too late to turn back and he had to tell her something. So he cleared his throat the best that he could and he proceeded to talk. “Well, you see…” He carried on, lying on the edge of each word.

sss

Phew, things seemed to have gone a little better than what was expected. It could have gone a lot worse. He forced himself to sigh in relief as he realized that he had managed to succeed in keeping everything a secret from the queen. And he was also able to move forward as well. It would seem that his lies had managed to convince the queen. He had been saved. At least for the time being. Now he just needed to be careful.

Skrawl had let Craniac take over the operations for the time being. He was much better at controlling and commanding the enforcers, anyway. There was little need for him to stick around the entire time for this. With Craniac now handling the works of making the construction, Skrawl could focus on heading out to a particular location.

He hadn’t told Craniac where he was going specifically. He recalled that the robotic zoner tried to get the information out of him. But Skrawl was adamant. This was not something that he wanted anyone to bear witness to. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Craniac with this, since Craniac was already aware of the...allegiance. But it was just that, the less people knew about these exact meeting times, the less likely that the Chalk Queen herself would ever find out. He wanted to keep her in the dark as much as possible. So far, he was succeeding.

Skrawl curled his lip up into a small snarl as he headed up the platform, the same one that Rapsheeba and him had climbed up before. He was surprised that Rapsheeba had agreed to this so easily. But perhaps her anger and hatred towards Penny the Chalk Queen was making her consider new, far darker options than before. No surprise, considering that Penny herself had gotten darker when she had killed all of those zoners. It would seem that this blunder of hers was going to come bite her back in the ass. The thought made him smirk.

Skrawl didn’t, however, plan on doing what he had before. Penny had let him maintain some of his power this time, so there was not much of a need to wriggle around to get it back. However, he still wanted to do something about her. At least eventually… She might try something later on and just having a backup plan would not hurt. Secure his position and make sure that Penny did not get into trouble. That sounds reasonable, right?

Skrawl could feel his body burning, his muscles aching and tiring after all of this climbing up. It felt as though it had been risen up even hire. This was an act that he would honestly not be too surprised about. It was something that he had fully expected Rapsheeba to pull after….that. Makes things go a little smoother for this stuff, he had to admit.

When he was finally on top, he had to fall to the ground and hold his hand to his chest to pant heavily. He drew in a few heavy breathings as he tried his best to control himself. He could feel his mouth growing a little dry after a few seconds. He licked his lips rapidly and swallowed hard. Then he pushed himself up, despite his heart and body still quaking, and he looked around, trying to find any sign of that woman showing up. This was the time and place that he said that he’d meet her. She should be here shortly.

While he waited, he pondered what to do about Rudy. Penny had let him go, but warned him about killing him should he come back into ChalkZone. He narrowed his eyes slightly at this. He wondered if there was anyway that he could use this situation to his advantage. Surely the little chalk boy was not entirely useless, even if he didn’t act upon his ‘generous offer’ like he had tried to….

He stopped his thinking when he could see a sparkling outline being created. He took a step back and he watched through narrowed eyes as something started to open up in front of him. He could see the bright light coming through and he averted his gaze.

Then he could hear a loud thump and a yelp, and he couldn’t stop himself from laughing. “This is never going to get old, is it?”

He looked over to see Terry pushing herself up from the ground. The red-haired human wiped herself off before shooting a glare at him. “Oh shut up, you big oaf!” She quickly cleaned herself up and she cleared her throat, immediately wanting to get down to business. “Did you get what I wanted? What I came here for?”

Skrawl folded his arms to himself. He nodded his head slowly. “But of course I did! Setting it up for you now!” He raised his hand up, curling it downward as he pressed the top of his hand lightly against himself. “I can show it to you later if you want. It’s not quite ready yet. But I can promise you that it will be ready and set up in no time.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Nice to hear that not all you zoners slouch on….” Terry seethed as she tripped when she walked forward. She wobbled her legs and flapped her arms until she managed to remain still. Once she righted herself, she said, “With that said, I would still like to take a look at it. I am curious to see just what you managed to do with this place. I also want to know why you chose that place. I’m curious about your thoughts.”

Skrawl nodded his head. “Most certainly! However….” He rubbed his hands together. “There is something that I wanted to talk to you about first.” He raised his hand up in gesture, motioning it to one side. “It’s regarding Rudy Tabootie.”

Terry raised her eyebrow up, giving a small growl. “What about him? We don’t need to worry about him any longer. I dropped him off in the Real World and I don’t think he has any magic chalk. So we shouldn’t be concerned about him.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Skrawl spoke up, his eyes narrowing into small slits. “We have plenty to be worried about. Whatever happens with him could make or break this deal.”

“Oh really now?” Terry folded her arms to her chest. “Do you mind explaining to me why this is the case?”

Skrawl tilted his head up slightly. “Rudy was set free by Penny, she told me. He is no longer ‘owned’ by her. He is in the Real World still as we speak, which some of his remaining family members.”

Terry tilted her head. “Then why is this a concern? Let the little artist boy roam around in the Real World.” She waved her hand dismissively. “What harm could he do?”

“Well it is true that it might not seem likely that Rudy could do anything to ruin this. But the thing is, first and foremost, Penny had given him a choice.” Skrawl made a few small gestures with his hand. “He can either stay in the Real World and be safe but forget about everyone here.” He then motioned one of his hands outward to make his point with, “Or he could try to return and fight for the zoners, but end up being killed by the queen herself if she so much as sees him.”

Terry widened her eyes in shock at this. Her face soon contorted into disgust and she shook her head. “I should have let that witch die when I had the chance…” She let out a small sigh as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “But Rudy might also still be problematic if he does have a way back into this world.”

“For even the Chalk Queen to say something like that, I imagine he does.” Skrawl said as he nodded his head in agreement. “Or at least, he will eventually. If he decides to come back, that boy can be very stubborn. I’m sure he’d find a way back in.”

Terry moved her finger slowly underneath her chin, her eyes furrowed in deep thought. She eventually spoke again, nodding her head slightly. “Yes, I do agree with that.” She straightened herself up and lowered her hand. “Well what did you plan on doing about this? If you’re going to have me assassinate Rudy myself, I’m going to have to decline. It’s hard enough to….”

Skrawl shook his head quickly. “Oh no no no, I didn’t mean that!” He waved his hands out in front of him. “I mean, I might not fully understand what troubles you are in or how you…. Well anyway, I didn’t mean for you to try to kill Rudy. Even if he might put a kink in things later on if he tried to do anything…”

“Couldn't he just draw something on the chalkboard and erase it?” Asked Terry as she held her hand up in gesture. “She couldn’t stop him from doing that at least once.”

“I’m sure that she gave Rudy a warning about that as well. I doubt that would have been missed by her.” Explained Skrawl. He took a step forward. “Now back to what I was saying….” He paused to make sure that Terry was paying attention to him this time. When he was confident that she was, he said, “Sure he might be a bit of a pest if he sees to taking us down as well, if he ever gathers up the courage to show his face around here again. However, if we were to convince him to help us…”

Terry blinked a few times before saying, “Oh! I think I know what you’re saying now!” She chuckled and gave a smile. “Yes, that might actually come in handy for us. Do you have a plan?”

Skrawl shook his head. “Not completely, however I was hoping that you had any thoughts.” He pointed his finger towards Terry, holding his arm steady. “After all, I was told by Penny how clever you can be. I’m sure that you could think of something that may work out for us.”

Terry smirked at this as she folded her arms against herself. “Well, she isn’t wrong about that. I think I know of something that can help. Let me explain…”

Skrawl remained silent as he listened to the human explaining her idea to him.


	36. Epilogue

Everything ached all around him. Even the breeze coming from one direction, light and gentle as it was, seemed to hurt his skin. He tried his best to curl up on the bench, trying to push his thoughts aside as he tried to relax. He wasn’t going to make any recovery if he thought too much on what happened. But no matter what he tried, it just continued to haunt him. It seemed like he was doomed with this for the rest of his life.

Even though he wasn’t seeing ‘Snap’ at this point, even though he was free, even though he could return to a normal life with his aunt and cousin, Rudy couldn’t fully relax himself. His mind continued to echo with thoughts and reminders of what happened just a short while ago. And the scars and memories of his treatment over the years would still remain.

The most obvious one revolved around his leg. He knew that, regardless of what Aunt Tilly did for it, the pain will never go away. His other physical wounds, including the broken rib, might heal, even with complications. But his right thigh had never healed right and there was little that could be done about this. He might end up needing to use a cane and wear a brace for the rest of his life, but at least he had a better chance of walking now. Better than being trapped on the ground for all of that time.

But there were other things on his mind. He couldn’t forget that Penny now had blood on her hands, more so than ever before. She had rarely partaken in directly killing before. But she had wiped out several zoners in a fit of rage and she was even willing to kill her own mother. And what she had told him before he left…

Would she even do that…? He swallowed hard and gave a low whimper. Truth be told, she had given him absolutely no reason to doubt that she would fulfill her promise.

Rudy grabbed onto his head as so many thoughts ‘graced’ him, echoing inside the chamber where his brain would be and just hurting him overall. He doubted it would stop anytime soon. Especially since…

Rudy clenched his teeth tightly and growled lowly. He had come out to the park in hopes of forgetting the recent events. He had hoped that he wouldn’t need to think more on Mrs. Sanchez’s death and the fact that he not only saw the dead body but also attended her funeral. He hoped that he could just not think about Penny’s death threat to him. But perhaps he had been a little too hopeful.

He had thought about talking to his aunt about the whole thing. But he felt hesitant in doing so. Did he really want to drag her and Sophie into this? There was a part of him that did feel bad in purposely withholding information from them. They did deserve to know just why the hell Penny was acting this way.

But would he end up making things worse? Would he live with himself if Penny targeted them too because of him? Rudy remembered what happened in regards to Snap. He did not want history to repeat itself again.

Rudy could feel a chilliness moving through the air, causing him to shudder. It seemed to accentuate his emotions and what he was feeling more directly within himself. He proceeded to hug himself more firmly, turning his gaze towards the ground once again. He silently hoped and prayed that things would start to get better soon. But a part of him had a feeling that he was going to keep feeling like this no matter what he did. It was hopeless.

But oh well. He supposed that he couldn’t stay here for much longer. His aunt and cousin were going to start wondering where he was. If he didn’t get himself back home soon, they were going to get worried and send out a search party for him or something. They, especially his aunt, were especially spooked by Mrs. Sanchez’s dead body and the fact that they thought he himself was dead for years. Yeah, he shouldn’t keep worrying them for much longer. The young man started to push himself off the bench….

...only to be stopped when he heard someone clearing their throat and he heard a familiar voice calling out to him.

“May I speak to you, Tabootie?”

Rudy felt his skin crawl as his eyes gazed upon Terry’s approaching form. “T-Terry B-Bouffant? Wh-What do you want?” He asked through a slightly shaky voice.

Terry stopped her walking to put her hand on her hip. She stared at him with a small frown, raising her eyebrows upward. “Now what is the matter with you? I just wanted to speak with you. I’m not trying to hurt you or anything. Geeze…”

Rudy swallowed hard. “I-I know…” He forced himself to say.

Terry replied, “Then I’m sure you can make room for me on the bench there and have a short chat. It will not take long. I promise.”

Rudy hesitated for several moments as he stared up at Terry. He didn’t know what to think or say. He could feel his mind racing with several thoughts, wondering just what this woman could want. Even though she wasn’t Penny and even though she had not shown the same type of inclinations as Penny had in the past, Rudy still could not help but fear what this woman might be capable of doing. What is to stop her from rising up above Penny to become something worse…?

But he did manage to force himself back onto the bench and nod his head in her direction. “I...yes, I suppose we can talk.”

Terry smiled at this. “I knew that you would see things my way. Don’t worry, I don’t think that you will regret this.”

“I hope not.” Rudy had to stop speaking for a few moments so that he could force himself to swallow. He could feel the ice of nervousness still clogging up his heart and making it hard for him to breathe. But he still managed, just barely, to force himself to settle down and push his legs and hands against one another. “S-So..” Rudy said as he started the effort to make conversation. “What did you want to talk to me about…?”

Terry didn’t answer right away. She stared at him long and hard for several moments, as though staring into his soul. Rudy felt himself cringing slightly at this. It hardly got better when Terry got on the bench, her knee pressing up against its curvature. She leaned in a little bit towards him, almost borderlining the creepiness factor. Rudy had to fight the urge to run and he just barely won that.

Then when Terry spoke up again, Rudy could not help but gasp in shock and what he heard, and it brought with him a whole wave of thoughts that would take, if he was lucky, days to sort through.

“I think we should work together…”

sss

Penny stood still, placing her hands along the rocky rail that kept her from falling down. She leaned in and she stared towards the ground below her, surveying the landscape all around her. She took in a few heavy breaths, her mind still buzzing with thoughts. And one in particular stood out above all the others.

This was her new home now. Far more so now than ever before.

She could never go back to the Real World, save for emergencies. She could never integrate back into society, not that she ever was fully before. She couldn’t face the wrath of the police and the rest of her family as well as his former friend if she tried to return. ChalkZone had once been a place that she simply had to watch over every so often. Now it remained the only safe place left for her, even in spite of the past uprisings.

But they mainly happened because, as far as she was concerned, she hadn’t been doing a good job with actually leading the zoners, being the queen that they needed. She had ranted to Rudy on how the zoners had lived in chaos and needed order. But she couldn’t lie to herself and claim that she had given them one hundred percent that.

She was going to make sure that this changed. She was going to do something about this, to change things for the better. She realized that she sounded like a broken record. But now that she was free of any worldly worries, she could really focus her attention ChalkZone and changing things to suit how she felt they should be.

She could truly make this world great.

Penny moved her eyes slowly as she surveyed the city ahead of her, the place that was in more direct control of her. She might not be able to see them from here, but she knew that the zoners were heading about their business. She knew that they were there. Regardless if they wanted her here or not, they were stuck with her. The only thing to do was to try to make the best of this situation. She silently hoped that they would come realize this.

But that would be wishful thinking, wouldn’t it? No matter. She just needed to create some new help for herself. She didn’t know why she hardly thought of this before. She could keep tabs on these zoners by sending a couple of spies in. She could make them to be more competent than Skrawl and Craniac ever were.

And speaking of those two... She hadn’t quite forgotten their little scheme to overthrow her. She would keep that in the back of her mind. She’d let them do whatever for the time being. But should they give her even the slightest reason, she’d...

Penny stopped in her thought’s tracks, things beginning to weigh down upon her. She couldn’t stop thinking about so many things. It wasn’t just Skrawl and Craniac. It wasn’t because of Snap or that fake apparition that her mind had created to torment her. It wasn’t just the zoners, either. There was something else on her mind that she couldn’t ignore.

Her mother and Rudy.

Penny still could hear her mother’s screams of fear, her pleas for her to let her go. She could still feel her blood splattering against her skin as she had made the final killing blow. She would forever see that etched in the back of her head whenever she shut her eyes.

Rudy was no better. She realized that she may have made a mistake with antagonizing him like that. Perhaps she should have went with a different approach. She didn’t even know what her thought processes were entirely that made her decide to do that. It was already too late to take it back and she had already set her place in this world firmly as well as given Rudy the chose of what fate that he wanted. Despite her hesitation initially, Penny was confident that, if she had to kill Rudy, she would.

Whether or not she would, that was entirely up to him. She wasn’t going to make him decide. She told him the outcomes of either, and it was up to him to weigh them out and decide what he felt was best.

She was going to feel a little lonely without him. She couldn’t deny that, even after all these years, she still had something resembling a slight attraction to him. She would always hate herself if she had to resort to killing him, but if it had to come to it... She realized it was the only thing that she could do.

Penny drew in a deep breath, practically tasting the chalky air around her as the wind started to swirl around her. It felt like near perfect timing, as though the wind was acknowledging the path that she had forged for herself. She closed her eyes for a few seconds before she reopened them and turned her head towards Courtney, who was perched nearby. The large bird zoner was in the middle of grooming herself. But upon seeing Penny waving her hand to get her attention, the large vulture immediately jumped off into the air and headed on towards her.

With Courtney hovering in front of the ledge, Penny walked over slowly, her scarf wavering off against the wind. She reached over and wrapped her arms around Courtney and nuzzled her briefly. Then she pulled back and she spoke to her in a whisper.

“Come on, Courtney. I think it’s time that I became more...personal in my rule.” Penny climbed up onto Courtney’s head. She took her place sitting on top of Courtney’s neck where it met her shoulders. Then she motioned her hand outward and gave out a single command. “To ChalkZone City!”

Courtney let out a loud screech. She immediately twisted her body around and dove slightly downwards. Then she spread her wings out to steady herself before flapping loudly. The bird took her in the direction of ChalkZone City. Penny furrowed her eyes deeply, staring intently as they rapidly approached their destination.


End file.
